Here's Why 'NCIS' Dominated Streaming With Nearly 900 Million Minutes Watched in One Week

When one thinks of the biggest TV shows on streaming, their thoughts likely go immediately to big-budget spectacles like Netflix's Stranger Things or Disney+'s Andor, or even genre-defying projects like FX on Hulu's The Bear. However, for every streaming-exclusive hit, there are just as many network and cable projects that rack up hundreds of millions of viewing time on streaming. Recent years have proven viewers love familiarity and lots of available episodes, and streaming libraries with beloved, well-established shows have allowed for certain titles to gain a wider audience.

Case in point: NCIS. The crime procedural has been on the air since 2003 and is still churning out new episodes on CBS. However, even though it's still one of the most-viewed shows on network television, it isn't nearly as popular as other offerings, like 9-1-1 or Abbott Elementary. Nevertheless, according to Nielsen and its weekly streaming charts, NCIS pulled in 683 million minutes watched for the week of December 22–28, 2025, while the week prior saw it reach a mind-blowing 898 million minutes. It might seem like an odd choice for a streaming success, but in reality, it has all the necessary ingredients.

'NCIS' Consistently Pulls in Huge Streaming Numbers Because It Has Several Advantages

NCIS regularly trends on the streaming charts, particularly among the Top 10 acquired shows of any given week. For the period where it pulled in 898 million minutes (December 15–21), it even ranked as the fourth-biggest title overall, coming behind only Stranger Things, Landman, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Meanwhile, its cable performance, while still solid, isn't quite on the same level. Per TV insider Matt Mitovich, NCIS is the sixth-biggest network show of the 2025-26 season.

On a basic, numbers-driven level, NCIS is well-positioned for streaming dominance. It is currently available on four different services — Paramount+, Netflix, Hulu, and Pluto TV — so there is a wide subscriber pool that has access to it. Additionally, NCIS has 23 seasons worth of content to get through, with nearly 500 episodes thus far. Not every service has every single season — for example, Hulu only has 11, while Netflix currently has just two — but there's still more than enough material to get through. If one simply hits play and lets it run for several hours a day, multiple days in a row, NCIS can sustain them for a good while.

It helps that the show's procedural format is ideal for relaxed viewing. With a new case almost every episode — save for the occasional multi-episode arc — viewers don't have to follow an intricate storyline for very long. As the viral success of Suits proved just a few years ago, sometimes all audiences want is a reliable show with a strong case-of-the-week format and several seasons to back it up. For NCIS, though, there are a few additional attributes that make it such a tried-and-true favorite.

'NCIS' Is a 10/10 Comfort Streaming Show

TV shows don't make it to 20+ seasons — and multiple spin-offs — without true viewer investment. Over its many years, NCIS has perfected its familiar formula, making it the ideal comfort watch. Sure, its basic premise often revolves around murder, but it balances its heavier side with ample humor and heart. Take, for example, a Season 3 episode where the core team is called in to find an abducted woman on a Sunday. In between the intense, time-sensitive case, there are plenty of laughs as everyone's weekend plans are revealed and Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) nearly get arrested by an amateur officer. NCIS knows when to be serious and when to lighten up.

On top of that, most of NCIS' strongest characters stick around for a long time, so viewers can really get invested in them and their relationships. Mark Harmon's Gibbs leads the team for 18 full seasons before he departs in early Season 19, and two current cast members — Sean Murray and Brian Dietzen — originated all the way back in Season 1. There are strong bonds between the various characters, and watching them evolve over several seasons is a joy. Ziva goes from a potentially untrustworthy new ally to Gibbs' almost-daughter figure, while Murray's McGee grows from an inexperienced agent to a confident one who is now fit to lead his own team.

Some procedurals might stick solely to the cases, but NCIS digs into its characters' personal lives and lets the familial relationships between them all flourish. This makes it a cozier watch than most crime shows, and one that is perfect for repeat viewing. Newcomers get to experience all the twists and turns for the first time, but anyone who simply wants to spend more time in this world can watch all the episodes over and over again. It may not have as much pop culture power as Stranger Things does these days, but NCIS has proven it has what it takes to make an impact.