Gunsmoke named 2025's most-binged series with 22.5 billion minutes streamed

According to Nielsen's annual Artey Awards, Gunsmoke was the most-binged title of 2025, logging 22.5 billion minutes of watch time — which Nielsen says equates to 241 episodes watched per viewer out of 404 available on various platforms.

The classic Western, which began as a radio series (1952–1961) and was adapted for television, streams on Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Peacock. Nielsen’s data is the basis for naming it the top-binged show of the year.

Gunsmoke ran on CBS from September 10, 1955, to March 31, 1975, and was developed for TV by Charles Marquis Warren. The series ran 20 seasons and 635 episodes, airing as half-hour episodes from 1955 to 1961 and one-hour episodes from 1961 to 1975.

The series was a major success in its time, winning 15 Primetime Emmy Awards and regularly ranking in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings; five made-for-TV movies followed its finale. Gunsmoke has been described as TV’s longest-running Western and was the second Western show written for adults, debuting four days after The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

Collider notes that while Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone shares the same DNA of dramatizing the American West, Sheridan may not have explicitly cited Gunsmoke as a direct influence; Nielsen’s Artey Awards provided the viewing figures that identified Gunsmoke as 2025’s most-binged series.

gunsmoke, 2025 most-binged series, 22.5 billion minutes streamed, 241 episodes per viewer, 404 episodes available, nielsen artey awards, nielsen, streams on paramount+, streams on pluto tv, streams on peacock, charles marquis warren, james arness, marshal matt dillon, amanda blake, miss kitty russell, milburn stone, doc adams, dennis weaver, chester goode, ken curtis, festus haggen, taylor sheridan, yellowstone, the life and legend of wyatt earp, 20 seasons 635 episodes