Pictures: Netflix
Welcome to your weekly rundown of the biggest stories from Netflix’s top 10 hourly figures drop for the week ending January 12th, 2025. Every Tuesday, Netflix updates its top 10 stats page with 40 new hourly figures of the top movies and shows of the past seven days. These are the top stories for the week!
Note: In this report of Netflix’s hours viewed from January 6th, 2025, to January 12th, 2025, we’ll use “Complete Viewings Equivalent,” or CVE, expressed in millions. That means we divide the hours viewed announced by Netflix by the runtime of films or series. It allows for better comparisons between films and series, but it’s not an audience metric. It is the minimum number of viewings if they were all complete from the first second to the last of the film or season.
In case you missed it, my complete review for 2024 dropped yesterday, looking into the most-watched movies and series for the year.
1. Squid Game season 2 momentum is weakening.
As I’ve been saying for the past two weeks, Squid Game Season 2 is losing momentum very quickly after its explosive start, to the point that by next week, it will fall below the trajectories of Squid Game Season 1 and Wednesday. It was an excellent performance overall, but this highlights the difference between an excellent performance and a true, widespread global buzz.
2. Virgin River continues to be impressive
I also wanted to reflect on the first 14 days of Virgin River Season 6, which shows impressive stability compared to the previous season, with a very low drop-off rate. The renewal for a seventh season is therefore entirely understandable.
3. Ad Vitam
Ad Vitam, Netflix’s first French film of 2025, is off to a spectacular start with 17.1M CVEs in just three days, making it the best launch for a French Netflix film released on a Friday since June 2021. With such a strong debut, it’s even possible to consider a spot in the all-time international Top 10 (as AKA is currently on the list, and Ad Vitam had a better start). However, it will need to fight hard and maintain momentum in the coming weeks to potentially achieve this.
Zooming out to all international films released on a Friday, the Guillaume Canet-led film achieved the 8th-best launch since June 2021. That said, several films ahead of it ultimately failed to secure a place in the international Top 10, so it is now up to Ad Vitam to keep soaring.
4. American Primeval
The limited western series American Primeval by Peter Berg had a solid start with 10.4M CVEs in its first four days. Given that the Western genre is inherently niche on a global scale, this is a pretty strong debut, the eighth-best for a new limited series released on a Thursday.
5. The Breakthrough breaks through!
The aptly-named Swedish series The Breakthrough did manage to break through and shattered the record for the best launch of a new international series released on a Tuesday, with 10.6M CVEs in six days. It also surpasses the best launch of an English-language series season, which is pretty incredible given the limited marketing around it. But that’s the power of Netflix’s system at work.
6. Subteran and Hound’s Hill
Two other European series were released on the same day last week, so let’s group them together. It’s a bit of a surprise to see the Romanian series Subteran outperform the Polish series Hound’s Hill (3.7M CVEs vs. 2.4M CVEs). While Hound’s Hill has already run its course, Subteran has all the potential to secure a renewal.
7. Fake Profile season 2 has a rough return
It’s a tough return for the Colombian series Fake Profile, whose first season was a huge hit upon its release in 2023. However, in 2025, the series has lost nearly 60% of its audience for the launch of Season 2, which is quite harsh. The naming convention used by Netflix to define this season suggests a limited series format, so it’s uncertain whether a third season will happen.
8. Jerry Springer, Lights, Camera, Action
2025 is starting like previous years, with its weekly docuseries. This week’s release dives into the behind-the-scenes of The Jerry Springer Show, which dominated American TV in the 90s with its endless scandals. The launch is solid as well, with 7.7M EVCs in six days, placing it in the Top 5 best Tuesday debuts.
9. Dubai Bling season 3
One show that’s on the rise is the reality series Dubai Bling. Season 3 had a stronger launch than Season 2, which is rare enough to be worth noting.
That’s all for this week – see you next week for more!
Netflix Synopsis: "Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits -- with deadly high stakes."
