Users watched 90 billion hours of Netflix in the second half of 2023 (and 183B in all of 2023), according to “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report”, capturing the platform’s viewership from July to December 2023. The first three parts of “Lupin” generated nearly 100M views in the second half of 2023, and “Cocomelon” eight seasons generated 200M views. Moreover, “The Witcher” (76M), “Virgin River” (69M), “The Crown” (50M), “Sweet Magnolias” (35M), “Top Boy” (26M), “Heartstopper” (24M), “Sintonia” (20M), and “Sweet Home” (17M) were among the most popular contents.
“Wednesday” (98M), “Red Notice” (62M), and “Squid Game” (25M), Netflix’s three biggest titles of all time, continued to bring in millions of views in 2023, long after they premiered on Netflix. Meanwhile, new adaptations drove significant viewership of past series: “One Piece” (72M), the live-action TV show, more than doubled viewing of the anime film and series; and reality competition spin-off “Squid Game: The Challenge” (33M) increased viewership for “Squid Game” by 34%, three years after this series premiered.
The platform’s non-English shows and movies made up nearly a third of all viewing. Korean (9% of viewing), Spanish (7%) and Japanese (5%) language stories captured the biggest share of viewing outside of English. These productions include “Dear Child” (53M) from Germany, “Forgotten Love” (43M) from Poland, “Pact of Silence” (21M) from Mexico, “Mask Girl” (19M) from Korea, “Yu Yu Hakusho” (17M) from Japan, “Berlin” (11M) from Spain, and “The Railway Men” (11M) from India.
“Leave the World Behind" (the #5 most popular films of the platform’s history) generated 121M views and “Leo” (the biggest animated film to date) 96M views, despite both premiering late in the second half. “Nowhere” (the third most popular non-English language film ever) garnered 86M views.
The 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 184M views with favorites like “Beckham” (44M), “Untold: Johnny Football” (14M) and “Quarterback” (13M). Reality TV shows like “Is It Cake?” (21M), “Love is Blind” (20M) and “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On” (12M) are widely watched, alongside docuseries like “World War II: From the Frontlines” (13M). Kids and family represented 15% of all viewing, with titles like “Gabby’s Dollhouse” (90M), “Family Switch” (62M), and “The Monkey King” (43M).
Moreover, Ampere Analysis revealed that Netflix’s stand-up comedy commissions have started showing signs of recovery in the first part of 2024, as Netflix wrapped up “Netflix is A Joke” festival for the third consecutive year. However, while Netflix is commissioning more of the genre, since 2022 Q3 its commissioned stand-up has been increasingly male and American. The company has shown a high interest in stand-up comedy, being responsible for 28% of all global stand-up commissions between 2021 Q1 and April 2024, with 163 titles announced, with Amazon a distant second place at 8%, or 46 specials commissioned. In linear TV, meanwhile, stand-up commissions have been in decline, particularly from formerly prolific US cable channels such as HBO and Comedy Central, which pulled back significantly in 2023.
Licensed titles also continued to be wildly popular across genres with series like "Young Sheldon" which generated 88M views, “Grey’s Anatomy” (51M), “Gossip Girl” (49M) and “Gilmore Girls” (45M). “Suits” alone had 144M views across nine seasons in the second half of 2023.