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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - ``Squid Game'' became the third program to surpass the 3-billion-minute mark in weekly viewership for back-to-back weeks, according to figures released by Nielsen today.
Viewers spent 3.021 billion minutes watching the nine-episode South Korean Netflix survival drama the week of Oct. 4-10, 7.3% less than the 3.26 billion minutes watched the previous week when ``Squid Game'' became the first program to top the 3-billion-minutes mark since ``The Crown'' the week of Nov. 16-22.
The only other programs to top the 3-billion-minute mark in back-to- back weeks were ``Ozark,'' which topped the figure for three consecutive weeks in March and April 2020, and ``Tiger King'' for back-to-back weeks in March and April 2020.
Nielsen has been measuring streaming viewership since 2017.
This is the third consecutive week ``Squid Game'' has been the week's most-streamed program.
The Netflix limited series ``Maid'' was the week's only other program to top the 1-billion-minutes mark, with viewers watching 1.904 billion minutes of its 10 episodes in its first full week of release.
Viewership rose 124% from the 850 million minutes watched the previous week, when it was available for three days.
There were four programs in the latest top 10 not in the previous week's.
``On My Block'' was third with 776 million minutes watched during the first seven days the fourth and final season of the teen comedy-drama was available on Netflix. The Marvel film ``Black Widow'' was fifth with 676 million minutes watched over the first five days it was available to all Disney+ subscribers.
``Seinfeld'' was seventh with 590 million minutes watched of its 166 episodes the first full week the classic NBC comedy streamed on Netflix.
The first three days of release of the second-season finale of ``Ted Lasso'' put the Emmy-winning Apple TV+ soccer comedy back in the top 10 after a one-week absence, with viewers watching 507 million minutes of its 22 episodes, ninth for the week. Viewership was up 11.5% from the 455 million minutes of 21 episodes watched the previous week.
Dropping out of the top 10 were the urban fantasy ``Lucifer''; ``The Great British Baking Show''; the British teen comedy-drama ``Sex Education''; and the crime thriller film ``The Guilty.'' All four programs stream on Netflix.
Eight of the top 10 programs stream on Netflix, with one each streaming on Disney+ and Apple TV+. Nielsen also announces streaming viewership of Amazon Prime Video and Hulu programming.
The top 10 consisted of five original streaming series, three programs that originally aired on U.S. broadcast networks, one movie and ``CoComelon,'' the 12-episode 3D animated series of videos of traditional nursery rhymes and original children's songs which originated on YouTube.
The top 10 programs were ``Squid Game''; ``Maid''; ``On My Block''; ``Midnight Mass''; ``Black Widow''; ``CoComelon''; ``Seinfeld''; ``NCIS''; ``Ted Lasso''; and ``Criminal Minds.''
The figures reflect only television-set-related viewing, including such television-connected devices as Roku and Apple TV. Mobile-only viewing is not included in Nielsen's streaming measurement systems.