Bridgerton – Picture: Netflix
Although you wouldn’t think it, growing your audience on Netflix is hard after your first season. Managed decline is the name of the game because in 2024, only one English-language show grew its audience season over season and only one more even managed to maintain it.
For this analysis, we use the Complete Viewing Equivalent metric over either the first 14 days of release or the first 28 days of release for series that returned on Netflix in 2024. The CVE metric is obtained by dividing the number of hours viewed released by Netflix every week by the series’ runtime. That’s what Netflix now calls “Views.”
Up: Bridgerton (+13%)
Only one Netflix English-speaking returning series managed to do better than its previous season, and that’s Bridgerton, one of the Jewels of Netflix’s crown.
Season 3 focused on a couple that was one fan favorite, and it showed as the series bested season 2 and improved on its numbers by 13%, gathering 106M views after 91 days (compared to 93.8M views for season 2). The only caveat here is that season 1 still did the best of all three seasons. Bridgerton is definitely here to stay.
Stable/Up: The Lincoln Lawyer
Stability is already a victory, and The Lincoln Lawyer achieved that with 17.9M views for its complete third season in its first 14 days of release, compared to the 18M views totaled by the first part of season 2. And since split seasons, due to their short runtime, tend to trend higher than regular seasons, the series might have even increased compared to season 2 in its entirety. The series was renewed for a fourth season, and that’s understandable.
Down: Heartbreak High (-3%)
Another series that was renewed, albeit for a final season, is the Australian series Heartbreak High, which only lost 3% of its viewership during the first 14 days of the release of seasons 1 and 2. Alas, its numbers were not very high to begin with, explaining why season 3 will be its last. Limiting the decay rate is excellent, but having big numbers on top of that is even better.
Down: Virgin River (-6%)
One series that has it all is Virgin River, which was renewed for a seventh season in December and is already looking at an eighth season. Season 6 only lost 6% of viewership compared to its previous season, and the series shows an extraordinary resistance season after season.
It might go all the way and adapt every book in the series! That’s also why spin-offs are also considered, as it is now one of Netflix’s significant licences.
Down: Emily in Paris (-9%)
Emily in Paris has been steadily dropping in viewership season after season, but it is still a powerhouse, with more than 45M CVEs after its first 28 days. That’s impressive for a series that was made for an entirely different network and bought by Netflix. It was renewed for a fifth season without any mention of it being the final season, so someone at Netflix must be happy with the viewership.
Down: Outer Banks (-15%)
One series that will end with its upcoming fifth season is Outer Banks. Released in two batches in 2024, season 4 showed a more significant drop in viewership than the previous seasons, which was to be expected as season 3 was a perfect ending to the first three seasons of the series. It is then hard to basically launch again. The cast also might want to try new roles, so five seasons is still good.
Down: Cobra Kai (-26%)
Releasing the final season of Cobra Kai in three batches was probably not the best way to bid farewell to the series, as the first batch of the sixth season showed a steep decline compared to the previous season, which was already down from the previous one. The final batch, released in a few days from this article going live, might just go out with a whimper.
Down: Sweet Tooth (-26%)
The first season of Sweet Tooth felt huge during the pandemic in 2020, but we did not have any Netflix numbers to back that up. When season 2 was released following the news that the series was renewed for a third and final season, we had our first glimpse into the “real” numbers, and they were pretty average, to say the least.
Season 3, released in 2024, had even less viewership, losing more than a quarter of the viewership of season 2.
Down: Vikings: Valhalla (-29%)
Vikings: Valhalla was also renewed for two seasons following the release of the first one back in 2021, and it was the right call as it allowed the showrunners to plan the end of the series correctly without being threatened by an early cancellation after the second season that showed a steep decline. Released in 2024, the final season of the show did approximately 50% less viewership than season 1 so it did not leave on a high note.
Down: Heartstopper (-30%)
Critical and public darling Heartstopper has still not been renewed for season 4, and its viewership might be to blame here as the third season showed a substantial drop in viewership compared to season 2. Plus, its cast is quite hot and busy now, shooting left and right in other films and series, increasing the price tag on a potential season 4 that might attract even less viewers. But its critical acclaim might warrant it a farewell of some kind, might it be a film or a shortened season 4.
Down: The Umbrella Academy (-36%)
Was a fourth season of The Umbrella Academy warranted? Well, after season 3, it was probably a good idea since it did great numbers and even surpassed what I consider to be the automatic renewal threshold (ART, patent pending) of 25M views after 14 days. But season 4 had no such luck, and the series ended up getting panned by critics and audiences alike. Sometimes more is not better.
Down: The Diplomat (-37%)
One series that was lucky to be renewed for two consecutive seasons is The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell, as it would probably not have made it to season 3 based on the viewership of season 2, which showed a big decline compared to season 1. The kind of decline to the kind of global viewership that does not meet the usual requirements for a renewal at Netflix for a prestige TV show, if you get my drift. So let’s be clear: Season 3 of The Diplomat will be its last, barring a big surprise.
Down: That 90s Show (-79%)
Season 2 of That 90s Show has to be one of the biggest drops between the first two seasons of any Netflix show, losing 79% of viewership. The worst part is season 3, greenlit with season 2 after the release of season 1, which was also released in 2024, and it did not even make the charts, signifying even less viewership than season 2. Unsurprisingly, the series was canceled after its third series, and who can blame Netflix for that when looking at the numbers? Anybody would have canceled a show that lost that many viewers.
The Unknowables
Other English-speaking series returned in 2024 but did not break into the Top 10, signaling how little they were watched. But did they do worse or better than their previous seasons? Well, that’s impossible to know, as those seasons also did not break into the Top 10 long enough for me to guesstimate the number of views after 14 days. But Unstable, starring Rob Lowe, was canceled after its second season, and the same for Girls5Eva after its third season. So I will take a wild guess here and assume that they did not do better than their previous season on the service. Finally, The Upshaws keeps getting renewed even if its viewership numbers are down in the pits. More power to them!
Rating: TV-MA
