Robert De Niro’s ‘The Whisper Man’ Tops Nielsen’s Streaming Movie Chart Over ‘Star Wars’

Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings have become essential for industry observers, providing one of the few publicly available insights into how movies and shows perform across various platforms. This week’s data carries additional significance due to a notable change in Nielsen’s tracking and reporting methods.

The ratings measurement company has confirmed a faster reporting timeline, reducing the delay from four weeks to just two for its Streaming Top 10 charts. This change allows audiences and industry insiders to access a more current view of what viewers are actually watching, rather than relying on data that is already a month old by the time it is released.

In this context, the latest Nielsen numbers for the week of August 31 through September 6 show a clear leader in the streaming movies chart: Netflix’s crime thriller ‘The Whisper Man,’ featuring Robert De Niro, which amassed 863 million minutes watched during its first full week of availability. This impressive total easily surpassed every other film on the list, including Disney+’s newly released ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.’

‘The Whisper Man,’ which follows a retired detective pulled back into a case linked to the serial killer he once apprehended, has been gaining significant traction on Netflix since its debut on August 28. The film had already been generating impressive numbers on the streamer’s internal charts, and this Nielsen performance confirms just how strong its opening phase has been compared to the rest of the streaming landscape.

In second place on the movies chart is ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,’ which garnered 727 million minutes watched, marking its first week of streaming availability on Disney+ following its theatrical release. This is a solid start for the Jon Favreau-directed continuation of the beloved Disney+ series, but it wasn’t enough to dethrone ‘The Whisper Man.’

The rest of the movies chart displayed a diverse range of platforms, highlighting the competitive nature of the streaming movie market. Apple TV’s ‘Mayday’ took third place with 382 million minutes, followed by Prime Video’s ‘The Runner’ at 368 million and Netflix’s ‘The Secret Woman’ at 354 million.

Completing the list were the 1980 classic ‘9 to 5,’ available on both Hulu and Netflix with 330 million minutes, alongside Netflix’s ‘The Angry Birds Movie 2’ at 278 million. Peacock’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ secured eighth place with 227 million minutes, while Paramount+’s ‘Scary Movie’ and Netflix’s documentary ‘Turning Point: Generation 9/11’ rounded out the chart with 173 million and 171 million minutes, respectively.

The timing of this chart’s release is directly linked to Nielsen’s broader methodology overhaul. In a statement regarding the change, Nielsen senior vice president of product strategy and thought leadership Brian Fuhrer noted that the company has made numerous improvements to streaming measurement over the years, but described this latest adjustment as potentially the most significant enhancement to its streaming ratings since the system was established in 2017.

Fuhrer emphasized that as the media landscape continues to evolve rapidly, providing clients with immediate, up-to-date audience data helps them keep pace with consumer behavior in real time. For an industry increasingly dependent on quick viewership signals for decisions about renewals, marketing investments, and content strategies, halving the reporting lag represents a substantial shift rather than a minor technical adjustment.

First trailer for ‘THE WHISPER MAN’, starring Adam Scott & Robert De Niro.

Aug 28 on Netflix! pic.twitter.com/WX3EgcdQN8

— Lord Scummander Zhurg!🗡️ (@zhurg_) July 14, 2026

This means that comparisons between major streaming releases, such as ‘The Whisper Man’ versus ‘Mandalorian and Grogu,’ will now be available much closer to real time, providing both fans and industry professionals with a clearer, quicker understanding of what resonates with audiences.

For now, the numbers clearly indicate that even with a beloved ‘Star Wars’ property debuting on streaming the same week, Robert De Niro’s crime thriller emerged as the bigger draw, at least according to Nielsen’s metrics.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments.