These are many of the most watched TV shows in the world — past, present and streaming. The numbers usually come from Nielsen ratings, however, the streaming world complicates that sourcing. Many of the companies ranking the top-watched shows treat streaming and cable TV differently, so they don't always appear on the same lists.. Discover the top TV series audiences are buzzing about, ranked by daily Buzz Score. Updated every day with fresh data.
Netflix's Stranger Things (USA; 2016-25) was the most popular TV show in the world in 2025, according to data-science firm Parrot Analytics, with a global demand rating 103.6 times greater than that of the average TV show.. As determined by IMDb users Our Most Popular charts use data from the search behavior of IMDb's more than 250 million monthly unique visitors to rank the hottest, most buzzed about movies and TV shows.