UPDATE (June 26, 2026): The official Nielsen numbers are in, and Spider-Noir finished the week at #2.
For the week of May 25–31, Nielsen has Spider-Noir at 851 million minutes streamed across its eight episodes, trailing only Netflix’s The Boroughs at 1.74 billion. That lines up almost exactly with the Samba read this piece was built on: Spider-Noir sat at #3 on Samba’s household reach chart, and it landed at #2 on Nielsen’s minutes chart. It also came in right where we projected, in the high hundreds of millions and just shy of a billion.
But here’s the stat that actually matters. Look at The Boys. Amazon’s returning flagship landed at #5 with 735 million minutes, and it did that across 40 episodes and five seasons. Spider-Noir beat it with eight episodes.
That works out to roughly 106 million minutes per episode for Spider-Noir versus about 18 million for The Boys. It’s the repeat-viewing engine doing exactly what a buzzy new drop does — the same fans running the season back, not a deep library padding the total. That’s how an eight-episode show out-streams a five-season one.
For a new series with no franchise safety net, out-streaming The Boys on its own platform is a strong debut, and it’s exactly the kind of number that strengthens the renewal case. There’s still no official word from Amazon on Spider-Noir Season 2, but if the decision comes down to viewership, this is a good place to start. We broke down the full case for a Spider-Noir Season 2 here.
Previously
Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir didn’t just show up on Prime Video over Memorial Day weekend. It actually landed.
Samba TV’s Top Streaming Programs chart for the week of May 25–31 has the eight-episode series debuting at #3 in the U.S., trailing only HBO Max’s Euphoria Season 3 and Netflix’s The Boroughs.
That means Spider-Noir opened ahead of several Netflix titles, including The Crash, Cleaner, Ladies First, and The Four Seasons Season 2.
For a brand-new live-action Spider-Man spinoff with no MCU crossover hook, no previous season, and Nicolas Cage playing a black-and-white detective version of Spider-Man, that is a strong start.
What A #3 Debut Could Mean
The big question now is what Samba’s #3 placement means in terms of actual viewership.
Samba tracks household reach, while Nielsen measures total minutes streamed and reports a few weeks later. So the official Nielsen numbers for May 25–31 won’t be available until later this month.
Still, there is a recent comparison that gives us a rough idea.
For the week of May 5–10, Samba had The Boys Season 5 sitting at #3 on its reach chart, the exact slot Spider-Noir is holding now. Nielsen’s numbers for that same window (May 4–10) then had The Boys at #2 with 1.05 billion minutes streamed.
That doesn’t mean Spider-Noir automatically hit a billion minutes. But it does put the debut squarely in that conversation.
A #3 Samba launch usually isn’t a small number, and Cage’s Spider-Man series clearly broke through with viewers right out of the gate.
Why The Nielsen Number Could Be Big
There is one important difference. The Boys had five full seasons available to rack up minutes, while Spider-Noir only had eight episodes, totaling roughly 349 minutes of runtime. So the comparison isn’t perfect.
But Spider-Noir also had something working in its favor: it was a fresh binge drop over a holiday weekend, with strong reviews and Cage finally suiting up as a live-action Spider-Man variant.
New shows can rack up a lot of viewing in a short amount of time, especially when fans watch multiple episodes at once or go back for repeat viewings.
With all eight episodes live at once, Spider-Noir had enough runway to put up a serious minutes total even without a multi-season library behind it.
The early Rotten Tomatoes score also didn’t hurt, with the series sitting at 91% as Cage’s noir take on the character started gaining traction. The fan score is even higher at 92%. Our own Spider-Noir review came away impressed with Cage’s pulpy, charismatic take on the character.
Amazon Has A Real Season 2 Case
The bottom line: Spider-Noir opened as a top-3 streaming program in household reach and beat several Netflix titles in its first week.
That’s exactly the kind of start Amazon wanted to see.
For a Spider-Man show that wasn’t connected to Tom Holland’s MCU and leaned into a strange black-and-white noir setup, this could have been a tough sell.
Instead, the early numbers suggest audiences showed up in force, and a start like this is exactly the kind of momentum that fuels a renewal. We broke down the full case for a Spider-Noir Season 2 here.
We’ll update once Nielsen releases the official May 25–31 streaming numbers. But based on Samba’s early read, Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man debut appears to have landed strong enough to give Amazon a real reason to keep the franchise going.
