Pictures: Netflix
Welcome to your weekly roundup (slightly belated this week – sorry!), dissecting the latest Netflix viewership numbers from the past seven days. This week, we’re covering Incoming, The Union, The Accident, The Frog, Wyatt Earp and The Cowboy War, Nice Girls, and Tokunbo.
Note: In this report of Netflix’s hours viewed from August 19th, 2024 to August 25th, 2024, 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.
1. Nice Girls is not Under Paris.
As the French film Under Paris sits comfortably at #2 in the all-time most-watched international film charts, it was fair to assume that the algorithm would push the French comedy Nice Girls to that same audience. Maybe it did, but its launch is lackluster, with only 4.3M CVEs over its first 5 days and a dismal public reception (4.2/10 on IMDb). That one will sink fast.
2. The Union is breathing life into August’s charts.
10 days in, The Union is still going strong and is currently the 12th-best launch for a Netflix original film released on a Friday since June 2021.
It’s, however, just shy of greatness by a few million CVEs to compete with Damsel for the title of the most-watched Netflix film of 2024.
3. Incoming is doing what it’s supposed to.
With its unknown cast and its American setting in high school, Incoming did not have a big chance to make an impression on a global scale. Its launch was quite muted, with 9.9M CVEs over its first three days.
It did better than Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story or Shirley, two other films with better casts but also very American-centric subjects, so not bad, all things considered.
4. Untold is back.
The Untold Sports documentary series is back for a new season this summer, with new documentaries released each week. The first one this summer is The Murder of Air McNair. When you combine sports and true crime, it does great, as its launch proves, with 8.3M CVEs over its first six days.
5. Tokunbo is a breakout film from Nigeria.
Did you know that Nigeria has 256 million inhabitants? I didn’t, but now I understand why Netflix invests more and more in its Nigerian line-up. This week, Tokunbo managed to get into the Top 10 with the second-best launch for a Netflix Nigerian film (4.9M CVEs).
6. Wyatt Earp draws blank.
Pop Quiz, hotshot. Which history subject do Netflix subscribers prefer between World War 2, Hitler, 9/11, Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra, and Wyatt Earp? If you chose Alexander the Great, you were right as it is still currently the most-watched history docuseries in its first 5 days with 7.1M CVEs, and not even sharpshooter Wyatt Earp could dethrone him as docuseries Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War only launched with 3.9M CVEs.
7. The Accident is flying high.
Mexican series The Accident has been buzzing online over the weekend as its preposterous pitch about the aftermath of an inflatable bouncing castle accident trended on X notably (with Netflix itself leaning into the meme). The series did very well in its first week, netting 10.4M CVEs over its first five days, the second-best launch for a new series from Latin America.
8. The Frog is not leaping out of the charts.
A series called The Frog is a tough sell to audiences and that showed in the charts as the South Korean series launched with 2M CVEs, in the bottom half for launches of new South Korean series this year.
That’s all for this week. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
