Netflix reveals viewing data on 18,000 shows & names most-watched in H1 2023

The Night Agent (Source: Netflix)

For the first time, global streamer Netflix has released an engagement report with detailed viewing data for more than 18,000 shows and movies on the service.

What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report will be published twice a year, providing comprehensive information into what subscribers have been watching during the past six months.

This represents a significant step from a major global streamer amid longstanding calls for transparency around viewership data from such services – particularly as a key demand in the recent Hollywood strikes.

The first edition of the report covers more than 18,000 titles and nearly 100 billion hours viewed, which Netflix said represents around 99% of all viewing on the service.

Ginny & Georgia (Source: Netflix)

Top titles revealed

Topping the list of most popular titles for the first half of 2023, from January to June, with 812,100,000 hours viewed globally since its release on Netflix on 23 March 2023 is the first season of the US action-thriller The Night Agent.

Produced by Sony Pictures Television and created by Shawn Ryan, the series is based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk and was renewed for a second season shortly after its debut.

Taking second place, with 665,100,000 hours viewed since launching on 5 January was the second season of US comedy-drama Ginny & Georgia, while third place was taken by season one of Korean thriller The Glory, which launched in December 2022 and has racked up 622,800,000 viewing hours since January.

Other most-watched titles include season one of Wednesday, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, season four of You and season three of La Reina Del Sur.

Non-English language shows generated more than 30% of all viewing during the period, said Netflix.

The Glory (Source: Netflix)

“Big step forward”

Netflix’s report, which can be downloaded and read in full here, includes the number of hours viewed for every title that attracted more than 50,000 hours viewed in the period, both original and licensed content. It also shares the premiere date and whether or not the show was available globally.

The data, however, does not include lifetime viewing hours, only hours watched during the six-month period of each report, so as with The Glory mentioned above, for example, this first edition does not include the hours accrued in December 2022, only those from January to June 2023.

“This is a big step forward for Netflix and our industry,” said the streamer in a release. “We believe the viewing information in this report — combined with our weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists — will give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences, and what resonates with them.”