The series finale of The Handmaid’s Tale helped bring the show one of its biggest weeks ever in Nielsen’s streaming ratings.
The Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel drew 900 million minutes of viewing for the week of May 26-June 1; the final episode began streaming on May 27. That’s the third highest weekly total on record for The Handmaid’s Tale, behind the final season’s premiere week (921 million minutes) and the opening week of season four in 2021 (1.04 billion minutes), both of which had three new episodes. (The show’s first three seasons predate Nielsen’s streaming charts.)
The Handmaid’s Tale finished third overall for the week and second among original series behind Netflix’s Sirens, which repeated as the No. 1 overall title in the United States with 1.51 billion viewing minutes. The limited series improved by about 11 percent over the 1.36 billion minutes of watch time for its premiere week.
Two new series also put in solid results. Netflix’s crime dama Dept. Q (749 million minutes) and Prime Video’s The Better Sister (731 million) finished third and fourth among original series and made the overall top 10. Netflix’s animated series Big Mouth (402 million minutes) returned to the rankings a week after its final season premiered, and Apple TV+’s Your Friends & Neighbors (392 million minutes), starring Jon Hamm, charted for the first time in the week of its first season finale.
Captain America: Brave New World led the movie top 10 and finished eighth overall with 750 million viewing minutes after its May 28 streaming premiere on Disney+.
Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries. The top streaming titles for May 26-June 1, 2025, are below.
