In a rare move for the streamer, Netflix has revealed its top 10 most-watched movies and TV shows in what co-CEO Ted Sarandos names its “most comprehensive look so far” at viewing figures. And as we expected, there are no surprises. Is Bridgerton there? Yes. How about Stranger Things? Yes. You can see where this is going.
Before we get into the details, there’s a fairly large caveat to note. Netflix measured viewership in two ways: minutes watched and per account views. For the latter, Netflix counts as a “view” any account that watched one of its programs for at least two minutes, so even if someone thinks what they’re watching is awful and turned it off after a couple of minutes, it still counts towards the final score. Netflix calls this “Sampling.” It may not give us a perfect picture of how people are really spending their Netflix time, but the figures are still interesting.
Top 10 Netflix TV shows per accounts watched within the first 28 days of release
It will come as a surprise to nobody that Bridgerton sits at the top spot for TV whether Netflix measures by minutes watched or per account “views.” The show has been a gigantic success; seasons 2, 3 and 4 are already on the way.
And then there’s Stranger Things season 3, which is a cornerstone show for Netflix at this point. The Witcher was also a huge hit for the streamer, and Netflix must be happy that foreign language shows like Lupin and Money Heist have had such strong showings.
See the table for yourself, courtesy of Variety:
- Bridgerton — 82 million accounts
- Lupin: Part One — 76 million accounts
- The Witcher season 1 — 76 million accounts
- Sex/Life — 67 million accounts
- Stranger Things season 3 — 67 million accounts
- Money Heist season 4 — 65 million accounts
- Tiger King season 1 — 64 million accounts
- The Queen’s Gambit — 62 million accounts
- Sweet Tooth — 60 million accounts
- Emily in Paris — 58 million accounts
Top 10 Netflix TV shows in hours watched
When it comes to time spent viewing, however, there’s a pretty substantial change. Five TV shows — Lupin, Sex/Life, Tiger King, The Queen’s Gambit, and Sweet Tooth — drop off the list entirely. Bridgerton still reigns supreme, and we also get the additions of 13 Reasons Why, You and Ginny & Georgia.
- Bridgerton — 625 million hours watched
- Money Heist: Part Four — 619 million hours watched
- Stranger Things season 3 — 582 million hours watched
- The Witcher season 1 — 541 million hours watched
- 13 Reasons Why season 2 — 496 million hours watched
- 13 Reasons Why season 1 — 476 million hours watched
- You season 2 — 457 million hours watched
- Stranger Things season 2 — 427 million hours watched
- Money Heist: Part Three — 426 million hours watched
- Ginny & Georgia — 381 million hours watched
Top 10 Netflix TV movies per accounts watched within the first 28 days of release
Now we move onto movies, where once again it’s pretty predictable. Chris Hemsworth’s 2020 action movie Extraction steals the number one spot, closely followed by the Sandra Bullock movie Bird Box. I’m surprised not to see Zack Snyder’s latest zombie flick Army of the Dead score higher given the hype, but it did well enough for Netflix to order a prequel, Army of Thieves.
- Extraction — 99 million accounts
- Bird Box — 89 million accounts
- Spenser Confidential — 85 million accounts
- 6 Underground — 83 million accounts
- Murder Mystery — 83 million accounts
- The Old Guard — 78 million accounts
- Enola Holmes — 77 million accounts
- Project Power — 75 million accounts
- Army of the Dead — 75 million accounts
- Fatherhood — 74 million accounts
Top 10 Netflix TV movies in hours watched
While Extraction took number one for sampling, Bird Box wins out on watch time.
- Bird Box: 282 million hours watched
- Extraction: 231 million hours watched
- The Irishman — 215 million hours watched
- The Kissing Booth 2 — 209 million hours watched
- Underground — 205 million hours watched
- Spenser Confidential — 197 million hours watched
- Enola Holmes — 190 million hours watched
- Army of the Dead — 187 million hours watched
- The Old Guard — 186 million hours watched
- Murder Mystery — 170 million hours watched
I can’t wait to see how these statistics evolve in the next few years. Netflix has multiple super promising shows on the way, including a live-action version of Cowboy Bebop and the a highly anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comics!
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