Welcome to the biggest ongoing post we’ve ever put together here at What’s on Netflix. Over the years, Netflix has released selective snapshots into its viewership. Here’s the definitive list of every Netflix viewership statistic released so far.
With the new age of streaming, viewership metrics have gone by the wayside. Instead, we get selective “datecdotes” (a phrase coined by the Entertainment Strategy Guy) that gives us a glimpse into viewing figures of certain titles. Netflix is by far the best when it comes to releasing metrics when it comes to streamers but even then, it’s often criticized.
Amazon only gives vague statements when describing its viewership. As exemplified with the statement in the article above with The Boys, Amazon said: “We are thrilled that ‘The Boys’ has surpassed our predictions for viewing in its first two weeks, and has become one of our most-watched Amazon Original series by our Prime Video customers,”. Of course, no actual figures were attached.
New viewership metrics have started coming out courtesy of Nielsen but this article focuses primarily on every viewership Number released by Netflix themselves.
Top 10 Most Watched Netflix Originals
In terms of the top 10 most-watched titles in Netflix history, here they are:
- Extraction – 99 million views*
- Bird Box – 89 million views*
- Spenser Confidential – 85 million views*
- 6 Underground – 83 million views*
- Murder Mystery – 83 million views*
- The Witcher – 76 million views*
- Money Heist (Season 4) – 65 million views*
- Tiger King (Limited Series) – 64 million views*
- The Irishman – 64 million views*
- The Wrong Missy – 59 million views*
Those marked with a * uses Netflix’s new 2-minute metric system.
Without further ado, here’s a list of every metric Netflix has announced so far which we’ll keep updated over time.
How does Netflix measure viewership? Up until 2020, Netflix’s viewership figures in the past counted where a user watched 70% of the movie/series. Now, viewership counts if someone watches 2 minutes of a title. It did offer up a comparison between the new and old metric which allows us to do an adjusted viewership rate although there are major caveats to that.
Note: the list is done in descending date order of when the statistic date was announced. You can find the underlying datasheet here.
Full List of Viewership Totals for Netflix Series & Movies
Ratched
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: September 18th, 2020
Statistic announced: October 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 48,000,000
Dubbed as the first hit from Ryan Murphy’s huge output for the service but isn’t technically a full Netflix Original. Either way, Ratched lit up the stats throughout most of September 2020.
pic.twitter.com/4J5rKx77Gg
— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) October 16, 2020
The Platform
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: March 20th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 15th, 2020
Number of viewers: 56,000,000
The Platform viewing stats slipped into a Bloomberg article which, at the time, covered the 10 most watched titles.
Da 5 Bloods
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: June 12th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 27,000,000
Spike Lee’s first feature film for Netflix.
The Wrong Missy
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: May 13th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 59,000,000
Never Have I Ever
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: April 27th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Space Force
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: May 29th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Too Hot to Handle
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: April 17th, 2020
Statistic announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 51,000,000
Floor is Lava
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: June 19th, 2020
Statistic Announced: July 16th, 2020
Number of viewers: 37,000,000
Raising Dion
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: October 4th, 2019
Statistic announced: June 8th, 2020
Number of viewers: 32,000,000
60% of the views for Raising Dion came from outside of the United States.
American Son
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: November 1st, 2019
Statistic Announced: June 8th, 2020
Number of viewers: 17,000,000
American Son reportedly performed well in France, Africa, Mexico, and Latin America. Non-U.S. subscribers made up 46% of the total viewing.
The Willoughbys
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: April 22nd, 2020
Statistic Announced: May 22nd, 2020
Number of viewers: ~37,600,000 – first month – later quoted as 38,000,000
The Willoughbys was one of the animated movies released during the COVID-19 outbreak and as a result, saw impressive viewing stats.
Based on released figures, it’s the most-watched Netflix Original animated feature thus far with 7.6 million more views than the Christmas hit, Klaus.
Just a day before the announcement, Ricky Gervais on a live-stream was blown away with the statistics.
37.6 million families met THE WILLOUGHBYS over the last 4 weeks. Don’t miss out on this high-flying adventure and the best-reviewed animated film of the year! pic.twitter.com/zVHBCVKrtq
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) May 22, 2020
The Last Dance
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: April 22nd, 2020
Statistic Announced: May 22nd, 2020
Number of viewers: ~37,600,000 – first month
Important note: at the time, this number only applies to Netflix outside the US (US received The Last Dance at a later date)
This was a strange flex for Netflix and one of the first times Netflix has released viewing figures for a co-production or a title with exclusive international distribution rights.
Perhaps the key thing here is that more people watched The Last Dance (or at least sampled) abroad where basketball often isn’t a mainstream sport, than ESPN in America where it is.
23 was always his lucky number!
23.8 million households outside the US checked out The Last Dance in its first four weeks on Netflix pic.twitter.com/xS4GCR1uzU
— Netflix (@netflix) May 20, 2020
The Decline
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: March 27th, 2020
Statistic Announced: May 15th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~21,000,000
It’s rare for us to get a scoop on how well a title is doing that’s not English (besides Money Heist, of course) so it was a rare insight when La Presse revealed that 21 million had watched The Decline.
What’s most interesting is that 95% of the views came outside of the country the movie was produced for. The Spanish version was the most-watched according to this report.
Extraction
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: April 24th, 2020
Statistic announced: May 2nd, 2020
Number of viewers: ~90,000,000 original projection / 99,000,000 actual later confirmed
The Chris Hemsworth movie topped all charts when it was revealed in early May that the action-packed thrill ride scored the biggest film premiere for Netflix thus far.
The projected 90 million views are for the first four weeks of release.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: March 6th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: ~64,000,000
The year is 2020 and there are two things you can’t stop hearing about in the early parts of the year. The coronavirus and the Tiger King.
This documentary took the world by storm but that’s not necessarily reflected in the viewing figures. That’s not giving Tiger King its dues though, as it’s still the most-watched docu-series on Netflix.
Money Heist (Part 4)
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: April 3rd, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: ~65,000,000 (projected)
The Spanish series continues to be Netflix’s darling series as it racks up an impressive 65M projected views around the globe.
Adjusted to the pre-2 minute metric, it has pulled in about as much the same as Money Heist part 3, but that’s likely not a fair comparison.
Love Is Blind
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: February 13th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: ~30,000,000
Love is Blind sets a new benchmark for reality TV series on Netflix as it’s the first metric we’ve had from the genre.
Spenser Confidential
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: March 6th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21st, 2020
Number of viewers: 85,000,000
Ozark (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: March 27th, 2020
Statistic Announced: April 21th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~29,000,000
This is the first time we’ve been given a glimpse into the streaming numbers for Ozark.
The excellent drama is often compared to Breaking Bad and is easily one of the shining jewels in the Netflix Original drama crown.
This number translates into one of the biggest shows for Netflix given it can command such as a strong number in its third season. It beats Stranger Things S3 (although that’s based on the old metric) although it’s five million shy of Money Heist’s third season.
Airplane Mode
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: January 23rd, 2020
Statistic Announced: February 28th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~28,000,000
In February 2020, Netflix announced that the Portuguese movie, Airplane Mode is the most popular non-English movie the streamer has produced thus far.
In a Tweet on February 27th, 2020 Netflix said the following:
AIRPLANE MODE is the most popular non-English film on Netflix so far! Nearly 28 million households watched the film since it premiered 4 weeks ago — two thirds of them in countries including the US, Mexico, France and Germany.
A Fall From Grace
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: January 17th, 2020
Statistic Announced: February 3rd, 2020
Number of viewers: ~26,000,000
Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace was a thriller movie that quietly dropped on Netflix in the first month of the year.
Promotion for this title was nowhere near the level of some of the other titles on this list so it demonstrates how a title can do well purely based on word of mouth and the famous algorithm.
It got massive views despite having some awful reviews particularly from critics where it sits at 34/100.
I HAD TO SAY THIS ABOUT A FALL FROM GRACE! Thank you to the 26 million of you who chose to watch in the first week! #AFallFromGrace @netflix @NetflixFilm @strongblacklead pic.twitter.com/JQPkuVmRPN
— Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) February 3, 2020
The Witcher (Season 1)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: December 20th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~76,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 43.09%
Based on the novel series and video game of the same name, we knew The Witcher was going to be big from the early days. Each of the trailers consistently was the highest viewed on Netflix’s YouTube channel and people were looking for their next Game of Thrones fix.
When Netflix released this stat (which saw the series added to the top five most-watched titles in Netflix history) it also noted how the book series also was struggling to keep up with the new demand.
6 Underground
Type: Movies
Released on Netflix: December 20th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~83,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 49.67%
Despite relatively mediocre reviews, the movie was sure to be a big hit given the fact it combines Ryan Reynolds with explosions, all wrapped up in an easy to digest format.
This metric covers the first four weeks of viewing.
You (Season 2)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: December 26th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~54,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 32.32%
Twelve million more people watched season two of You than season one in its first four weeks, which shows the series has the legs to keep audiences interested and has attracted more viewers long after the initial release of You.
It’s worth noting that only several weeks of data were available to Netflix and this number is based on their estimates.
The Crown (Season 3)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: November 17th, 2019
Metric Announced: January 20th, 2020
Number of viewers: ~21,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 12.57%
Netflix’s golden series The Crown which covers the life of Queen Elizabeth finally got some stats revealed in early 2020. The shows statistics had previously not been known.
Additional viewership insights were also provided. This includes the fact 73 million people in total have chosen to watch at least one episode of The Crown. It also revealed that viewership of season three was 40% up over season two.
Note: All the titles listed below are on Netflix’s old metric where Netflix measured based on the percentage of title watched as opposed to 2 minutes.
Klaus
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: November 11th, 2019
Metric announced: December 19th, 2019
Number of viewers: ~30,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: ~18.95%
It’s a personal pleasure to see Klaus doing well. The animated holiday movie is spectacularly animated and we’ve heard was passed on by multiple studios. At least for us, it’s going to be a yearly tradition diving into the movie. It’s worth noting the 30 million number is technically at the top end and the stat covers the first month, not the first seven days.
Beyond a Nielson number for The Christmas Chronicles (which appears to have had more viewers than Klaus), this is the first metric Netflix has released for a Christmas title.
This holiday season, join the nearly 30 million households around the world who enjoyed Klaus in its first four weeks on Netflix! pic.twitter.com/lIo5X9dRkP
— See What’s Next (@seewhatsnext) December 19, 2019
The Irishman
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: November 27th, 2019
Metric announced: December 10th, 2019
Number of viewers: 26,404,081 (70% – first week) – 64,000,000 (2 minutes – first month)
Percentage of Subscribers: 16.68%
Netflix spent hundreds of millions on The Irishman which looks to be its best chance yet at getting its first movie Oscar.
Speculation as to whether The Irishman would have its stats revealed have been ongoing for weeks given the size of the project.
Given the length, that’s an extraordinary number given that you have to watch 70% of the movie to be considered within that number.
*pours glass of wine*
*dips bread*
My friends, I’ve got some news from the big guy at the top: THE IRISHMAN was watched by 26,404,081 accounts globally — within its first 7 days on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/abVV993CWS
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) December 10, 2019
Street Flow
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: October 11th, 2019
Metric announced: October 23rd, 2019
Number of viewers: 2,600,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 1.64%
This French movie released in October 2019 proves that Netflix is making a dent in individual countries. The movie may seem like it had a low viewership but when you consider Netflix France has six million subs total, that’s nearly half of subscribers in the region.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: October 11th, 2019
Metric announced: October 23rd, 2019
Number of viewers: 25,734,392
Percentage of Subscribers: 16.25%
The movie follow-up to the end of the Breaking Bad series scored big with Netflix. The number reflects the first week of viewing and worldwide.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie was watched by 25,734,392 households in its first seven days pic.twitter.com/FDyPlYc8YO
— Netflix (@netflix) October 23, 2019
Tall Girl
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: September 13th, 2019
Metric announced: September 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 41,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 25.9%
Tall Girl is a romantic comedy (one of the many you’ll notice on this list) that scored well with the younger generation. It had a huge social media presence particularly on the likes of Snapchat and TikTok. The figure reflects the first 28 days of viewing worldwide.
Unbelievable (Limited Series)
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: September 13th, 2019
Metric announced: September 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 32,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 20.21%
The incredibly produced limited series caught a lot of attention particularly thanks to its first episode. The number reflects its first 28 days (first month) on Netflix worldwide.
The critically-acclaimed limited series Unbelievable has been watched by 32 million member households in its first 28 days pic.twitter.com/axZcCdYyGu
— Netflix (@netflix) October 16, 2019
Money Heist (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: July 17th, 2019
Metric announced: August 2nd, 2019
Number of viewers: ~44,000,000 (34,355,956 first week)
Percentage of Subscribers: 21.7%
The huge Spanish series grew season after season and notably has a large following in non-Spanish speaking countries. Money Heist is Netflix’s biggest non-English series on Netflix. The number accounts for the first week globally.
34,355,956 households around the world watched La Casa de Papel Part 3 in its first week! pic.twitter.com/hmp9riWrs2
— Netflix (@netflix) August 1, 2019
Kidnapping Stella
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: July 12th, 2019
Metric announced: August 20th, 2019
Number of viewers: 18,895,873
Percentage of Subscribers: 11.93%
German thriller movie which to our knowledge is the first metric released for a non-English movie on Netflix.
In Germany we don’t say “Much wow, so awesome”. We say “18.895.873 Netflix-Accounts weltweit haben in den ersten vier Wochen Kidnapping Stella gesehen” and I think that’s beautiful.
— netflixde (@NetflixDE) August 20, 2019
Stranger Things (Season 3)
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: July 4th, 2019
Metric announced: July 11th, 2019
Number of viewers: 26,400,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 16.67%
This was Netflix’s biggest series launch to date. Over 26 million watched over the first weekend the series was available to stream.
Murder Mystery
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: July 4th, 2019
Metric announced: July 11th, 2019
Number of viewers: 73,000,000 (70% metric) – 83,000,000 (2 minute metric)
Percentage of Subscribers: 48.17%
The Adam Sandler movie which was his best performing one on Netflix to date. In the first three days, 13.4 million views came from accounts in the US and Canada and 17.5 million worldwide. Seventy-three million households in total watched Murder Mystery in the first month.
Murder Mystery – Adam Sandler’s biggest Netflix movie to date
Always Be My Maybe
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: May 31st, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 32,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 20.21%
The Ali Wong and Randall Park comedy could likely attribute some of its success thanks to the memes surrounding the cameo of Keanu Reeves. Never the less, it’s another popular romantic comedy that saw nearly one in five subscribers at the time watch. The figure represents the first month’s worth of viewing.
When They See Us (Limited Series)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: May 31st, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 25,000,000 on old metric – 31,000,000 on new metric
Percentage of Subscribers: 15.79%
Ava Duvernay’s groundbreaking limited series about the Central Park Five scored big with audiences when it released in May 2019. The number above represents the first month of figures. We should also note Netflix said “most-watched series in the U.S. every day since through at least June 12”.
In a later report, we learned that some of the regions that particularly enjoyed When They See Us including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Benelux countries and Africa.
When They See Us – Netflix Limited Series
Dead To Me (Season 1)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: May 3rd, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 30,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 18.95%
The debut black comedy series starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini struck a chord early on with Netflix watchers around the world. The 30 million figure refers to the first month of households globally.
The Perfect Date
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: April 12th, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 48,000,000 (70% metric) – 55,000,000 (2 minute metric)
Percentage of Subscribers: 30.32%
Noah Centineo has been in quite a few of Netflix’s big romantic comedy movies aimed at teens and there’s a good reason too. The Perfect Date was a huge rating draw which almost 50 million people watching the movie in the first month of release.
Our Planet (Limited Series)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: April 5th, 2019
Metric announced: July 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 33,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 20.84%
Netflix’s first big foray into the nature docuseries genre started in April 2019 and based on the fact a fifth of Netflix’s subscriber base watched it worldwide within a month, you could say it went quite well.
The Highwaymen
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: March 29th, 2019
Metric announced: April 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 26.39%
Despite mixed reviews, this period biographical drama still scored over 40 million viewers. At the time, that was almost a quarter of the entire subscriber base in the first month.
Triple Frontier
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: March 13th, 2019
Metric announced: April 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 52,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 34.31%
Worldwide and viewing figures for the first 30 days. The action hit for Netflix featured an all-star cast and is currently, according to the released metrics at least, the third most-watched movie.
Umbrella Academy (Season 1)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: February 15th, 2019
Metric announced: April 16th, 2019
Number of viewers: 45,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 29.69%
Until Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s superhero series output was entirely reliant on Marvel. Umbrella Academy‘s sweeping success proves that Netflix can promote superhero content that isn’t from Marvel or DC. This figure was the first month of viewing.
Sex Education (Season 1)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: January 11th, 2019
Metric announced: January 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 28.72%
This surprising series quickly found a global audience a month into airing with its fantastic cast and quirky storyline.
You (Season 1)
Type: Series
Released on Netflix: December 26th, 2019
Metric announced: January 17th, 2019
Number of viewers: 40,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 28.72%
The show’s huge rise in viewership demonstrates the power of Netflix compared to its network counterparts. In fact, the NYTimes solely attributed the success of the show thanks to the power of the platform.
Bird Box
Type: Movie
Released on Netflix: December 21st, 2018
Metric announced: December 30th, 2018
Number of viewers: 45,000,000 first 7 days (70%), 80 million projected (70%), 89,000,000 confirmed (2 minutes)
Percentage of Subscribers: 57.45%
Bird Box is Netflix’s best performing movie or TV series to date. It’s no surprise either. The entire month of December and January 2019 was just full of Bird Box memes and press.
Elite (Season 1)
Type: TV Series
Released on Netflix: October 5th, 2018
Metric announced: January 17th, 2018
Number of viewers: 20,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 14.36%
The second Spanish series on this list was a huge hit in Spanish language countries but much like Money Heist has translated well into other regions of Netflix too.
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Type: Documentary
Released on Netflix: September 18th, 2018
Metric announced: January 17th, 2018
Number of viewers: 20,000,000
Percentage of Subscribers: 14.36%
With the exception of Orange is the New Black, the Fyre Festival documentary is the oldest title on Netflix list and represents the first title Netflix released its vague viewing stats for.
If you’d like to see our full spreadsheet of figures, please refer to our Google Docs here.
The only title we haven’t included above is the fact that Orange is the New Black was announced to have been started by 105 million accounts. That roughly represents every 2 in 3 people with a Netflix account.
Some of the earliest anecdotal data evidence came in April 2013 when Reed Hastings noted that Hemlock Grove’s viewership was higher than House of Cards.
If you’re looking for some more analysis on some of the more recent viewing stats and how to read into them, the Entertainment Strategy Guy has you covered.
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