Netflix: 90bn hours of content streamed in H2 2023
May 24, 2024
Netflix has published its second edition of What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report, capturing Netflix viewership from July to December 2023. This report covers 99 per cent of all viewing on Netflix.
Since introducing its first report, Netflix notes that it has made “important improvements” — adding runtime and views (total hours viewed divided by runtime) and separating films and series. This mirrors its weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists. Over 85 per cent of new Netflix titles in this latest report also appeared in Netflix’s weekly Top 10 lists.
This report shows:
The staying power of Netflix stories: Netflix explained in a blog post: “We’re building stories that last across almost every genre — with older seasons continuing to delight audiences, especially when a new season premieres”:
- The first three parts of Lupin generated nearly 100 million views in the second half of 2023, with nearly 200 million views across Cocomelon’s eight seasons.
- The Witcher (76 million), Virgin River (69 million), The Crown (50 million), Sweet Magnolias (35 million), Top Boy (26 million), Heartstopper (24 million), Sintonia (20 million) and Sweet Home (17 million) were all popular with fans too.
In addition, the report shows:
- Fan favourites like Wednesday (98 million), Red Notice (62 million) and Squid Game (25 million) — Netflix’s three biggest titles of all time — continued to bring in millions of views in 2023, long after they premiered on Netflix;
- New adaptations drive significant viewership of past series:
- One Piece (72 million), the live-action TV show, more than doubled viewing of the anime film and series; and
- Reality competition spin-off Squid Game: The Challenge (33 million) increased viewership for Squid Game by 34 per cent — three years after this much loved story had its premiere.
Netflix said its non-English shows and movies are hugely popular with audiences — making up nearly a third of all viewing.
- Korean (9 per cent of viewing), Spanish (7 per cent) and Japanese (5 per ent) language stories captured the biggest share of viewing outside of English.
- Stand-outs include Dear Child (53 million) from Germany, Forgotten Love (43 million) from Poland, Pact of Silence (21 million) from Mexico, Mask Girl (19 million) from Korea, Yu Yu Hakusho (17 million) from Japan, Berlin (11 million) from Spain, and The Railway Men (11 million) from India.
People watched 90 billion hours of Netflix in the second half of 2023 (and 183 billion in all of 2023). The report shows the size of Netflix audience across genres and for its films.
- Leave the World Behind (Netflix’s #5 most popular movie of all time) generated 121 million views and Leo (Netflix’s biggest animated film to date) 96 million views — despite both premiering late in the second half. And Nowhere (Netflix’s third most popular non-English language film ever) garnered 86 million views.
Netflix’s most watched titles came from a variety of genres, from drama and kids to comedy, action and more.
- Sports has become increasingly popular, amassing a combined 184 million views with favorites like Beckham (44 million), Untold: Johnny Football (14 million) and Quarterback (13 million).
- Reality TV shows like Is It Cake? (21 million), Love is Blind (20 million) and The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On (12 million) are widely watched, alongside docuseries like World War II: From the Frontlines (13 million).
- Kids and family represented 15 per cent of all viewing, with titles like Gabby’s Dollhouse (90 million), Family Switch (62 million) and The Monkey King (43 million).
- Licensed titles also continue to be popular across genres with series like Young Sheldon which generated 88 million views, Grey’s Anatomy (51 million), Gossip Girl (49 million) and Gilmore Girls (45 million). Suits alone had 144 million views across nine seasons in the second half of 2023.