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‘Dutton Ranch,’ ‘The Boroughs’ Join Most Watched Series List for 2025-26 Season
Nielsen's final multi-platform ratings for the 2025-26 US TV season have confirmed *Stranger Things*' last run as the most-watched series by a wide margin, while a few titles shifted position since the mid-season count. Paramount+'s Yellowstone spinoff *Dutton Ranch* broke into the top 10 despite Nielsen only having tallied its first three episodes, and Netflix's cancelled supernatural drama *The Boroughs* also entered the overall rankings for the first time.
*Dutton Ranch* placed sixth overall with 19.2 million viewers over 35 days, while another Yellowstone offshoot, CBS's *Marshals*, topped the broadcast chart with 19.3 million viewers over the same period, a slight dip from its mid-April figure as its later episodes rated lower. *The Boroughs* drew 12 million viewers over 35 days before Netflix cancelled it after one season, reportedly due to its roughly $10 million-per-episode cost. Among broadcast originals, *Marshals*, *Tracker*, *High Potential*, *Matlock* and *Sheriff Country* retained the top five spots, with only minor viewer-count changes for the CBS shows. The season ran from 14 September 2025 to 24 May 2026.
In short
- *Stranger Things* remains the season's most-watched show overall.
- *Dutton Ranch* debuts at sixth despite only three episodes counted.
- Netflix's *The Boroughs* enters rankings but was cancelled over its cost.
Explained simply
Nielsen is the American company that measures television viewership across broadcast networks, streaming platforms and cable channels. Networks and streaming services rely on these ratings to determine whether to renew, cancel or invest further in programmes, making the data central to industry business decisions worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
The 2025-26 television season ran from September 2025 to May 2026, featuring a diverse range of programming across traditional broadcasters like CBS and streaming services including Netflix and Paramount+. During this period, audiences watched everything from final seasons of established franchises to new series launches and spinoffs of existing popular programmes. The ratings from this season reveal which programmes successfully attracted the largest audiences relative to their competitors.
Streaming platforms are increasingly scrutinised for viewership figures alongside traditional networks, particularly because high production costs mean studios must achieve sufficient audience numbers to justify continued investment. The decision to renew or cancel a programme depends heavily on how its ratings compare to similar series and whether the audience size warrants further production spending. Understanding which programmes performed well helps explain industry decisions about what content gets made and how resources are allocated across different platforms.