The answer depends on how you measure it, but **Game of Thrones** holds the title of most-watched TV series of all time according to IMDB data, while **Squid Game** currently dominates the 2024-25 television season across all platforms. Game of Thrones grew from a modest 2.2 million viewers at its premiere to an average of 32.8 million viewers per episode by season 7, with its series finale drawing 19.3 million viewers across HBO platforms—the network’s most-watched episode in history. At its peak, the show reached 73.8 million global viewers in a single season, cementing its place in television history. However, if we shift focus to the current streaming era, Squid Game Season 2 has shattered records with 126.2 million views in just 11 days—faster than any Netflix series ever released.
The South Korean thriller accumulated 619.9 million hours of viewing time in the second half of 2024 and achieved 190 million total views, making it only the third Netflix season to reach that milestone. In a single week, the show logged 4.9 billion minutes watched, the highest for any series in 2024. This article examines the metrics that define “most watched,” breaks down the differences between traditional television ratings and streaming viewership, and explores why certain shows capture global audiences while others remain regional successes. We’ll also look at the surprising titles dominating total streaming minutes and what current trends reveal about the future of television viewership.
Table of Contents
- What Makes a TV Series the Most Watched Worldwide?
- How Streaming Has Transformed Television Viewership Metrics
- Why Game of Thrones Remains the All-Time Viewership Champion
- Squid Game’s Record-Breaking Global Phenomenon
- The Surprising Dominance of Library Content Over New Releases
- How Regional Preferences Shape Global Viewership Patterns
- The Future of Television Viewership Measurement
What Makes a TV Series the Most Watched Worldwide?
Determining the most-watched television series worldwide requires understanding that viewership metrics vary dramatically based on the measurement criteria. Traditional broadcast ratings count live viewers plus DVR playback within specific windows, while streaming platforms track total viewing hours, unique viewers, and completion rates. These fundamentally different approaches mean that comparing a 1990s network juggernaut to a 2024 streaming phenomenon involves apples-to-oranges calculations. Game of Thrones succeeded under the traditional model, where appointment viewing still mattered. Audiences gathered weekly to watch new episodes, and the cultural conversation depended on everyone experiencing the story simultaneously.
The 73.8 million global viewers who tuned in during its peak season represented an extraordinary achievement for premium cable, a platform that required paid subscriptions long before streaming became standard. Squid Game operates under entirely different rules. Netflix releases entire seasons at once, and viewers across 190 countries can watch simultaneously in their native languages. The 126.2 million views Squid Game Season 2 achieved in 11 days would have been technically impossible under the old broadcast model—there simply wasn’t infrastructure for that kind of global, immediate distribution. This comparison illustrates why the question of “most watched” now requires qualification: most watched when, where, and by what measurement?.
How Streaming Has Transformed Television Viewership Metrics
The streaming era has fundamentally altered how we understand television popularity. Nielsen’s multiplatform rankers now attempt to compare broadcast, cable, and streaming shows on equal footing, and for the 2024-25 season, Squid Game leads all platforms. The top five shows this season—Squid Game, Adolescence, Tracker, Reacher, and High Potential—represent a mix of international streaming originals and American broadcast procedurals, reflecting fragmented viewing habits. However, total minutes watched tells a different story than peak viewership events. The most-streamed series of 2025 by total viewing time is Bluey, the Australian animated children’s show, with 45 billion minutes (down from 55.62 billion in 2024).
Grey’s Anatomy follows with 40.9 billion minutes, and Stranger Things comes third with 39.9 billion minutes as the most-watched original series. NCIS and spongebob SquarePants round out the top five with 36.9 billion and 34.3 billion minutes respectively. This reveals a crucial limitation in discussing “most watched”—shows with massive libraries and constant replay value accumulate enormous viewing hours without generating the cultural buzz of a new release. A parent playing Bluey on loop for their toddler counts the same as a viewer breathlessly binge-watching the latest prestige drama. Both represent engagement, but they reflect very different relationships with content.
Why Game of Thrones Remains the All-Time Viewership Champion
Game of Thrones earned its “most-watched series of all time” designation through sustained growth over eight seasons and unprecedented global cultural penetration. The show premiered to 2.2 million viewers—respectable but not remarkable for HBO—and built its audience through word-of-mouth, critical acclaim, and the irresistible pull of watercooler conversation. By season 7, that audience had multiplied nearly fifteen times to an average of 32.8 million viewers per episode. The series also demonstrated remarkable staying power across platforms as HBO expanded its digital presence. The finale’s 19.3 million viewers across HBO platforms came at a time when simultaneous streaming options gave audiences alternatives to traditional cable subscriptions.
That figure doesn’t capture the full global picture, as international broadcasts and delayed viewing added millions more to the total. What makes Game of Thrones unique is that it achieved these numbers for prestige drama, not broad family entertainment. The show featured graphic violence, complex political plotting, and moral ambiguity that typically limits mainstream appeal. Its success proved that cable drama could compete with broadcast network viewership while maintaining creative ambitions that broadcast standards wouldn’t allow. No subsequent HBO series has approached these numbers, though House of the Dragon has performed strongly as a spinoff.
Squid Game’s Record-Breaking Global Phenomenon
Squid Game represents the streaming era’s answer to Game of Thrones, but with a distinctly different path to dominance. The South Korean survival drama achieved something previously unthinkable: a non-English series becoming the most-watched show worldwide. Season 1 became Netflix’s most-watched series in 2021, and Season 2 has extended that lead with numbers that dwarf the competition. The 4.9 billion minutes watched in a single week during December 2024 illustrates the concentrated intensity of streaming consumption. Unlike broadcast television’s gradual audience building, streaming hits explode immediately and then face rapid decay as viewers move to the next release.
Squid Game’s ability to sustain 619.9 million viewing hours through the second half of 2024 suggests remarkable staying power in an environment that typically rewards novelty over longevity. The show’s 190 million total views milestone—only the third Netflix season to achieve this—carries an important caveat. Netflix counts a “view” as any household that watches at least two minutes of content, a threshold that includes casual samplers alongside devoted fans. By contrast, the total viewing hours metric better captures actual engagement. Still, the sheer scale of Squid Game’s reach across nearly every country with Netflix access represents a genuine shift in what global television viewership looks like.
The Surprising Dominance of Library Content Over New Releases
The most-streamed shows of 2025 reveal an uncomfortable truth for streaming platforms investing billions in original content: library titles consistently outperform flashy new releases in total viewing time. Bluey, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, and SpongeBob SquarePants aren’t generating headlines or winning prestige awards, but they’re commanding more collective attention than almost anything else on television. This pattern creates strategic tension for platforms deciding where to allocate resources. A splashy original like Squid Game generates press coverage, social media conversation, and subscriber acquisition during its release window.
But a reliable library title like Grey’s Anatomy—with over 400 episodes available—quietly accumulates viewing time month after month without requiring additional production investment. For viewers trying to understand what “most watched” means, this distinction matters. If you want to know what show is generating the biggest cultural moment right now, look at peak viewership for new releases. If you want to know what people actually spend their time watching, the library content dominates. Both represent valid answers to the question, but they describe fundamentally different phenomena.
How Regional Preferences Shape Global Viewership Patterns
Television viewership remains heavily influenced by regional preferences despite streaming’s global reach. American procedurals like NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy perform exceptionally well in the United States but generate proportionally less buzz internationally. Conversely, Korean content like Squid Game often performs better outside its home market, where novelty adds to appeal.
The success of Adolescence as the second most-watched show of the 2024-25 season across platforms demonstrates how quickly a new title can break through. However, if that show lacks the international distribution deals or cultural universality that Squid Game possesses, its viewership ceiling remains limited by geography. Streaming platforms must balance investments between proven regional performers and potential global breakouts.
The Future of Television Viewership Measurement
The television industry continues struggling to develop viewership metrics that satisfy all stakeholders. Advertisers want to know exactly who watched and whether they engaged with commercial content. Streaming platforms prefer metrics that make their originals look successful for investor relations purposes.
Viewers increasingly don’t care about ratings at all—they simply watch what interests them when they have time. As measurement methodology evolves, the definition of “most watched” will continue shifting. The comparison between Game of Thrones and Squid Game may eventually seem as dated as comparing radio drama audiences to early television ratings. What persists is the human desire for shared storytelling experiences, whether those happen around a broadcast schedule or through binge-watching conversations days apart.
