Severance is officially Apple TV Plus' biggest hit for years – but it’s still miles behind Netflix’s Squid Game

(Image credit: Apple TV +)

Severance season 2 debuted with amazing viewing numbers
It's the first Apple TV Plus show to crack Nielsen's top 10 since 2023
Silo also hit big for Apple's streaming service in January

Full disclosure up front: I’ve never seen Severance. Shameful, I know. But I'm increasingly in the minority according to some seriously impressive new viewer numbers for Severance season 2, which show how big a hit it's been for Apple TV Plus.

The media analytics company Nielsen (via The Hollywood Reporter) has just released its first set of streaming charts since the Adam Scott-fronted, memory-wiping sci-fi’s second season hit screens, and Crew Cupertino are no doubt breaking out the party poppers at the resulting data.

The newly-released figures, which cover the week of January 13, are the first to pop up since Severance season 2 debuted on Apple TV Plus just days later on the 17th. The headline news from said data is that the head-trip drama has drawn some of the highest viewing numbers for an original series in the streaming service’s five-year history.

You may like

Despite having such a short timeframe to make the Nielsen original viewing charts, Apple’s mega hit managed to slide into the fourth slot in the top 10. An even more eye-catching number? It clocked up an impressive 600 million viewing minutes in that short period.

These figures are even more notable considering it’s reasonably rare for Apple TV Plus shows to sneak into Nielsen’s top 10 original rankings at all. There are a couple of caveats – the data is limited to US households and only includes TV watching, not phones or computers. Still, while it's only a limited snapshot, it does show how well Severance has been doing in the Netflix-dominated charts.

The last Apple TV Plus show to hit this big in the Nielsen streaming charts was Ted Lasso season 3 back in 2023 – quite possibly one of the worst collection of episodes I’ve ever committed my eyeballs to. Severance, I thank you. Oh, and Ted and the rest of your saccharine soccer players? In the event there’s ever another season of Lasso – unlikely, seeing as the ‘comedy’ ended on a fairly definitive note – I hope AFC Richmond get liquidated.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Original TV series (US, January 13-19), from Nielsen
Show	Platform	Minutes viewed
1. American Primeval	Netflix	1.41 billion
2. Squid Game	Netflix	1.25 billion
3. Landman	Paramount	1.05 billion
4. Severance	Apple TV Plus	589 million
5. XO, Kitty	Netflix	546 million
6. The Traitors	Peacock	487 million
7. Virgin River	Netflix	481 million
8. Beast Games	Prime Video	429 million
9. I Am a Killer	Netflix	404 million
10. Silo	Apple TV Plus	396 million

Silo & Stitch

Cast members in Apple TV +'s Silo — (Image credit: Apple TV +)

The latest Nielsen numbers bring more good news for the bigwigs at Apple TV Plus, as Severance wasn’t the streaming service’s only big winner. The third week of January also saw stylish sci-fi drama Silo crack tenth on the Nielsen original charts.

That’s noteworthy, as this appears to be the first time that two Apple Originals have appeared in the same week of Neilson’s top 10 rankings (as noted by, 9to5Mac).

Bear in mind that even though Severance’s second season has enjoyed a barnstorming start in terms of ratings, we are talking about the Neilson original charts, not the overall ones that look at all TV viewing figures.

Placed into that context, the team at the fictional Lumon Industries and their accumulated 589 million viewing minutes look small fry next to the 1.5 billion minutes Squid Game season 2 racked up on Nielsen’s overall streaming charts. Then again, Netflix’s South Korean smash hit has a far greater reach because of the platform it’s on.

Still, these figures point to not only to the bewitching appeal of Severance, but Apple’s increasing reach among the best streaming services.

You can catch new episodes of Severance season 2 every Friday until the finale airs on March 21. Suffice to say, I’ll be starting the first season this weekend.

Dave is a freelancer who's been writing about tech and video games since 2006, with bylines across GamesRadar+, Total Film, PC Gamer, and Edge. He's been obsessed with all manner of AV equipment ever since his parents first bought him a hideously garish 13-inch CRT TV (complete with built-in VCR, no less) back in 1998. Over the years he’s owned more plasma and OLED TVs than he can count. On an average day, he spends 30% of his waking existence having mild panic attacks about vertical banding and dead pixels.