Netflix is looking back at 2023 just like the rest of us, as the streaming service has released its first-ever Netflix Engagement Report. The new report looks at the most viewed TV shows and movies from the first half of 2023. The big winner — new Netflix original series The Night Agent, which was viewed nearly 150 million more hours than the next closest show over the report's time period.
Looking out at a few more shows, the top five most-watched Netflix shows from January through June 2023 were The Night Agent with 812.1 million hours viewed, Ginny & Georgia season 2 with 665.1 million hours viewed, South Korean series The Glory season 1 with 622.8 million hours viewed, Wednesday with 507.7 million hours viewed and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story rounding things out with 503 million hours viewed.
This data all comes from Netflix's first "What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report," which the streamer says is an effort to provide more information to everyone on what titles are most popular on the streaming service. The report provides the amount of hours viewed for both original and licensed TV shows and movies (those that exceeded 50,000 hours viewed) rounded to the nearest 100,000, when the titles premiered and if they were available globally. Netflix said the report includes data on more than 18,000 titles and represents 99% of all viewing on the streaming service.
The biggest takeaway was the immediate popularity of new shows like The Night Agent and Queen Charlotte. The Night Agent amassed its 812.1 million hours viewed after premiering just about halfway through the report's timeframe (March 23), while Queen Charlotte made it all the way into the top five for the six month period despite premiering on May 4. The three other shows in the top have either premiered in late 2022 (Wednesday and The Glory season 1) or the first days of January 2023 (Ginny & Georgia season 2); though their place in the top five can speak to the shows' overall staying power.
Some other interesting tidbits from the Netflix report include one TV show that is not globally available ranking seventh in total hours viewed during the six-month period: the Mexican telenovela La Reina del Sur season 3, with 429.6 million hours viewed.
In terms of movies, the best-performing title in the report is the Jennifer Lopez action movie The Mother, coming in at 14th with 249.9 million hours viewed after premiering on May 12. The next most popular movie was Luther: The Fallen Sun, which had 209.7 million hours viewed after premiering on March 10.
When you look at non-Netflix originals, the best-performing licensed TV show during the first half of 2023 was New Amsterdam season 1, which despite not being available globally was viewed for 153 million hours.
Some data is not included in getting the full picture for these numbers, most notably the amount of time a show or movie goes for and the number of people that watched it. However, Netflix does include that in its weekly Top 10 lists, so this is just another, more macro look at the most popular shows on Netflix over a given time period.
Netflix plans to release this in-depth report twice a year, which should allow for some interesting comparisons of how new shows emerge and what has staying power. You can find the full report on Netflix's website.
