TV viewers were all about the romance this year, from Regency drama on Netflix or college discoveries on Amazon Prime Video.
In June, Nielsen released their cross-platform ratings up to mid-April 2026, and HELLO! stripped out the network shows and looked at available data for May releases to offer our own perspective on the TV landscape and the most-watched show so far this year...
© LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIXBridgerton
Season four of Netflix's global hit romance series, Bridgerton, is one of the most-watched series of 2026, earning 130.8 million views globally after spending nine consecutive weeks in the top 10 charts upon its return for its fourth season on January 29; the final four episodes dropped on February 26.
The opening episodes were also the highest opening week for any 2026 Netflix series.
Bridgerton has become a global juggernaut and arguably helped to launch the romance genre back on to TV screens, so it's no surprise that the show continues to be a hit.
Season four followed fan favorites Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek as they fell in love despite their different class background and faced the consequences of the era's laws.
© Liane Hentscher/PrimeOff Campus
Prime Video has unclear metrics but confirmed that 12 days after its release, Off Campus had reached an incredible 36 million viewers, making it the third highest-performing original series on the streamer behind The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Fallout.
Anticipation had been high for Off Campus, especially after the release of Heated Rivalry in 2025, and it did not disappoint.
Based on the first book, The Deal, in Elle Kennedy's popular Off-Campus hockey romance series, the series uses the fake dating trope to follow the captain of the school's hockey team, Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) as he helps music student Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) – who as a high schooler was sexually assaulted, changing her life forever – make her crush jealous, only for the two to inevitably fall for each other.
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© Courtesy of PrimeFallout
Season two of the post-apocalyptic series Fallout premiered on Prime Video at the end of 2025 on December 16 with the majority of its season running through to early February 2026.
First-party data from Prime Video released in April revealed that 83 million people worldwide watched the season during its first 13 weeks of release.
© Warrick Page/HBO MaxThe Pitt
The Pitt was the breakout hit of 2025, sweeping the Emmy Awards, the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, and more.
So it's no surprise that the Noah Wyle-led medical drama (which features real-time shift execution a la 24) has become HBO's most-watched show of 2026 so far, regularly scoring over one billion minutes viewed each week and averaging 15.4 million viewers per episode.
Season two continued to tell the real-world issues facing emergency room doctors, drawing praise for its focus on the impact of ICE raids across the country, the closure of rural hospitals, the rise of malpractice suits against doctors, and the use of AI.
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© Eric Liebowitz/FXLove Story
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette has not only become FX’s most-watched limited series ever on Hulu and Disney+, but has also been streamed more than 65 million hours since the series premiere in February 2026.
The Ryan Murphy drama follows Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as the titular JFK Jr and Carolyn as they meet and fall in love in 1990s New York City, and ratings continue to grow, with first-day viewers of the May finale 90% higher than the February premiere.
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The Madison
Taylor Sheridan has a lock on the western genre, and The Madison is a stunning study of grief that follows a New York City family who move to the Madison River Valley of Central Montana, and stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell.
Released in April 2026, it has become Paramount's most-watched show of the year so far and the biggest television debut of Taylor Sheridan's career, drawing 8 million views in its first 10 days. The show is also hoping to be an Emmys hit, putting itself forward for 27 nominations in 20 categories.
© Jasper Savage/Prime VideoThe Boys
The final season of the irreverent superhero series The Boys broke Prime Video records, averaging 57 million viewers per episode globally, and according to Nielsen streaming charts, had a debut of 899 million minutes viewed in its opening window.
© Alamy Stock PhotoEuphoria
The third and final season of Euphoria finally dropped on HBO in April 2026, four years after it was last on screens, so it's no surprise that viewers rushed to find out the fate of Rue and Jules with 8.5 million U.S. viewers of the premiere in the first three days
Season three received significant backlash for its dramatic shift in genre and tone and the decision to sideline major characters, and although HBO did not share a breakdown of each episode, it has been reported that each episode continues to average 25 million viewers to date.
© DisneyParadise
Season one of Hulu's twisty drama Paradise was a huge smash, and season two returned in 2026, tallying over 13 billion total viewing minutes.
Viewership grew each week, holding steady in Nielsen’s weekly list of the top 10 most-watched streaming original series in the U.S, and the season two finale reached 4.3 million viewers in its first three days of streaming on Hulu and Disney+, a 35% increase in viewership compared to the season premiere.




