Netflix unveils most-watched shows, led by Korean drama trio & ‘Narcos: Mexico’

Narcos: Mexico

Netflix’s newly launched rankings site has revealed that South Korean dramas, Narcos: Mexico and psychological thriller You were among its most-watched shows around the world over the past week.

The numbers are based on total hours watched and come from Netflix’s own data, which is used to list its top 10 most-watched TV shows and films on a global and country-by-country basis.

The launch of the new metric comes after an earnings call in October, during which the streamer confirmed that it would soon be moving away from counting two-minute views and instead count the total number of hours.

Titles are counted from Monday to Sunday each week, with the list updated every Tuesday. Content is split into four categories: Films (English), Films (Non-English), TV (English) and TV (Non-English).

Each season of a show will be counted individually, with repeat viewings counting towards the overall total.

Squid Game

Global findings & top performers

It has now revealed its findings, with the top English TV performer between 8 and 14 November being the third season of Narcos: Mexico, which accumulated 50,290,000 hours globally.

The first run of Arcane came second with 34,170,000 hours watched, with the third season of You on 33,720,000.

However, earlier seasons of the US thriller – which debuted on US cablenet Lifetime before moving to Netflix – also drew millions of hours. Across the week, You’s first, second and third seasons accounted for more than 60 million hours of Netflix viewing.

For non-English TV, Squid Game predictably took the top spot with 42,790,000 hours, with fellow Korean drama The King’s Affection (S1), which debuted on KBS2, second on 14,120,000 hours.

Another Korean drama, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (S1), came in third on 13,820,000 hours, while Brazilian kids drama Carinha De Anjo (S1) was fourth on 13,660,000 hours.

TV (English)

1. Narcos: Mexico (S3) – 50,290,000
2. Arcane (S1) – 34,170,000
3. You (S3) 33,720,000
4. Maid – 29,480,000
5. Big Mouth (S5)- 25,390,000
6. Dynasty (S4) – 21,020,000
7. Locke & Key (S2) – 18,770,000
8. Narcos: Mexico (S1) – 15,570,000
9. You (S2) – 15,520,000
10. You (S1) – 14,570,000

TV (Non-English)

1. Squid Game (S1) – 42,790,000
2. The King’s Affection (S1) – 14,120,000
3. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (S1) – 13,820,000
4. Carinha De Anjo (S1) – 13,660,000
5. My Name (S1) – 10,820,000
6. Where Is Marta? – 8,640,000
7. The Five Juanas (S1) – 8,490,000
8. The Club: Part 1 – 7,860,000
9. Yo Soy Betty, La Fea (S1) – 7,650,000
10. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba: Tanjiro Kamado, Unwavering Resolve Arc – 6,060,000