If there is a moment in the year when rankings say more about the platforms than about the titles themselves, it is January. With the calendar still warming up and few “shock releases,” the Top 10 stops being a showcase of premieres and becomes a positioning X-ray. What rises to the top is not only what is being watched, but what each service has chosen to be: Netflix as an emotional ecosystem, HBO Max as a mediator between prestige and scale, Disney+ as an empire of IP, Prime as a territory of multiple publics, Paramount+ as a guardian of franchises, and Apple TV+ as a curator of identity. This week’s chart does not shout novelty—it organizes forces.

The Top 10 of the week of January 11, 2026, is not merely an audience snapshot; it is a map of strategy. At the beginning of the year, when the release calendar still moves cautiously and major launches are carefully spaced, viewers reveal something essential about their relationship with streaming. They are not looking for rupture. They are looking for recognition, comfort, and continuity.

On Netflix, this pattern appears with almost didactic clarity. The dominance of His & Hers and Run Away reinforces the power of emotional thrillers and relationship-driven drama—stories that activate curiosity while remaining anchored in recognizable feelings. The persistent presence of Stranger Things, Emily in Paris, and The Good Doctor confirms the strength of the “safe harbor”: series that do not depend on novelty to remain relevant. It is less about what is being released now and more about what already belongs to the viewer’s emotional routine. Even specific niches—such as WWE and anime—enter not as exceptions, but as extensions of this habit-based logic.

In films, the leadership of People We Meet on Vacation and the continued performance of Me Before You reiterate an old truth: romantic melodrama never stops working. In an environment saturated with stimuli, audiences turn to what is familiar, emotionally legible, to what offers catharsis without risk. Netflix, once again, plays on the field of scale: less “cultural event,” more affective permanence.

HBO Max, on the other hand, continues to occupy the hybrid space between prestige and popularity. The Pitt asserts itself as a true heavyweight, a series that arrives already integrated into critical discourse and word of mouth. The Cult Behind the Killer: The Andrea Yates Story reinforces the appeal of psychological true crime, while IT: Welcome to Derry shows how franchise horror can be expanded without losing relevance. In cinema, One Battle After Another stands out as a rare case: a film that converts prestige into audience, crossing platforms and emerging as a genuine awards-season product. HBO is not merely competing for numbers—it is competing for cultural centrality.

On Disney+, the Top 10 is almost an institutional statement. TRON: Ares leads as an event, while the Avatar universe occupies multiple positions, accompanied by timeless animation and new Marvel chapters. Here, consumption is not guided by discovery but by belonging to brands. The same applies to series: Percy Jackson consolidates itself as a youth franchise, while the catalog sustains the rest of the list. Disney does not ask viewers to choose stories—it offers worlds.

Prime Video continues to operate as a territory where distinct publics converge. Fallout and Beast Games display two complementary fronts: large-scale IP adaptation and event entertainment. Alongside them coexist teen romance, drama, action, and international soap operas. It is a service defined less by identity and more by breadth: there is no single “Prime tone,” but multiple communities living side by side.

Paramount+ reaffirms its strategy of loyalty. South Park, Landman, Tulsa King, and Yellowstone sustain the platform as universes of continuous return. In films, the leadership of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning reinforces the logic of the franchise as a central asset. It is not about creating new habits, but about maintaining an audience that already knows exactly what it seeks there.

Apple TV+ remains the market’s elegant exception. Its Top 10 of series—Tehran, Pluribus, The Last Frontier, The Morning Show, Slow Horses, Severance, and Ted Lasso—is not merely a ranking; it is an editorial statement. Few titles, all with a clear authorial signature, are positioned as a prestige catalog. The same holds for films, dominated by projects with the aesthetic of “premium streaming blockbusters.” Apple does not compete on volume; it competes on image.

What cuts across all platforms is a revealing fact: at the start of 2026, streaming is not driven by the question “what’s new?” but by another, more intimate one: “where do I feel at home?” The catalog is king. Franchises are anchors. Romance, melodrama, true crime, and large narrative universes remain the pillars of engagement.

More than genre trends, this week’s Top 10 exposes a shift in logic. The streaming war has moved beyond isolated premieres and become a battle for permanence. It is not only about attracting—it is about being the place viewers return to. And in January, each platform makes unmistakably clear who it believes it is.

Since I am travelling, Miscelana’s Top 10 remains as last week’s. I’m catching up soon!