Netflix just spilled the beans on what folks are binge-watching. Finally! They unveiled the top shows, including The Night Agent and Queen Charlotte, giving everyone a peek into what’s hot among viewers.
Netflix’s Numbers Game
Netflix used the total number of hours viewers spent on each show to rank them. The FBI thriller, The Night Agent, took the crown with a whopping 812 million hours watched. Sounds impressive, right? But there’s a catch.
Missing Big Names
Shows like The Crown and Stranger Things didn’t make the cut in the top 50. Why? They didn’t release new seasons during the January to June 2023 window the stats covered. Instead, newer shows like You and Ginny & Georgia made the top 10.
Divided by Seasons
Netflix didn’t stack up entire shows like The Crown or Stranger Things. They divided them by seasons. For example, The Crown season five got 76 million hours, but all five seasons together raked in 214 million hours. Splitting these up affected their ranking.
Lost in Translation
Shows like La Reina del Sur and The Glory scored high viewing hours, but they aren’t as known in the UK. Their international popularity boosted their numbers.
Math Mishap
The Night Agent’s 812 million hours sounds stellar, right? But the math is off. They said it averaged 81.2 million hours per episode, assuming each episode was an hour. Nope! Each episode was around 49 minutes, which means roughly 99 million households tuned in.
Movies vs. Series
Movies had a tough time on this list. The Mother with J.Lo made it to 14th place with 250 million hours, but with just a two-hour runtime, it couldn’t compete with shows that have multiple episodes.
Tricky Timeframes
The list doesn’t tell us how many people watched a show or film. Luther: The Fallen Sun starring Idris Elba scored over 209 million hours. Assuming a two-hour runtime, that’s around 100 million viewers, but that’s a stretch. People might have dropped off or watched it more than once.
The Catch with Counting
It’s hard to nail down the actual audience size without more details. These numbers give a peek into what’s popular but don’t paint the whole picture. Knowing who stuck around till the end or rewatched a show would add more to the story.
So, while these stats are fascinating, they’re just a piece of the puzzle when it comes to understanding what really hooks Netflix viewers.