The Life List – Picture: Netflix
Every week, Netflix releases its top 40 shows and movies along with stats and figures that allow us to dive deep into how well titles are performing. This week, we’ll be looking into Adolescence and The Electric State, which have just hit their first 14 days on the platform and are having very different trajectories. We’ll also touch on newcomers The Life List, Con Mum, Caught from Harlan Coben, and much more.
Note: In this report of Netflix’s hours viewed from March 24th, 2025 to March 30th, 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.
1. Adolescence is still growing.
The sensation of this early year remains surprising as Adolescence continues its explosive growth with an excellent third week. With an estimated 80M CVEs over its first 14 days, it ranks as the 3rd best launch for an English-language series since June 2021.
It’s time to update our predictions for its place in the all-time Top 10 (which the series has just entered, ranking 9th this week). The choice now comes down to second or third place—either ahead of or just behind Stranger Things Season 4. In any case, this remains a complete surprise—one of those only Netflix can pull off, with series that arrive and leave a lasting mark on society.
2. The Electric State really is lifeless
The Electric State has just passed the 14-day mark, and we can now fully grasp the industrial disaster it represents in the charts. The film posted the 51st best launch for a Netflix movie since June 2021, with half the audience of Back in Action, which was released in January. If it had debuted in 2024 with these CVE numbers over 14 days, it wouldn’t have even made the Top 10 most-watched films. And I could go on, listing movies that performed better (like McG’s Uglies—yes, Uglies!). That goes to show that when it comes to Netflix, successes and flops can really come from anywhere, and nothing is a sure thing.
3. The Life List reaches its goal.
Sofia Carson strikes again! After her relatively small role in Carry On, the young actress takes center stage in the romantic comedy The Life List, which is off to a strong start with 24.4M CVEs in 3 days—almost the same as The Electric State. The difference? This one didn’t cost $320 million.
So, for this budget, it’s a powerful launch. Now, we’ll see how it holds up in the coming days—let’s not forget that Sofia Carson also starred in Purple Hearts, which had incredible legs over time. I don’t see it performing as well but we never know.
4. Con Mum
The British documentary Con Mum isn’t drawing big crowds, delivering a middling launch with 6.3M CVEs in 6 days—placing it on the lower end of English-language documentary debuts.
5. Harlan Coben’s still got it.
Harlan Coben is a winning asset everywhere! The Argentine series Caught, adapted from one of his books, scored the 4th best launch for a Latin American series released on a Wednesday—but more importantly, it achieved the best debut ever for an Argentine series, by far.
6. Chelsea Handler bombs
Chelsea Handler was one of Netflix’s first major figures, being among the earliest comedians to release a special on the platform and, more notably, hosting Netflix’s first-ever daily talk show, Chelsea, in 2016. She’s now back after several years away, but it doesn’t seem like subscribers were eagerly waiting for her return—her special, The Feeling, just had one of the weakest launches for a comedy special released on a Tuesday.
7. Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure.
Having binged Gold & Greed in one night, I can say this documentary series is truly fascinating. It tells the story of one of the most famous treasure hunts in American history. But it seems the audience isn’t as hooked as I was, as the docuseries had a rather weak launch, with just 2.1M CVEs over its first four days. The series also offers a pretty unique aspect that should make it rewatched multiple times by a specific group of people, but I won’t give away any spoilers!
8. The Lady’s Companion needs more companions
It’s a bit tougher for the period costume series The Lady’s Companion from Spain. With 2.6M CVEs in 3 days, its launch is hovering near cancellation territory, so it will need to perform better in its second week if it hopes to become the Spanish-speaking Bridgerton it likely aimed to be.
9. Million Dollar Secret
The weekly show Million Dollar Secret also had a mediocre launch, with 3.7M EVCs for its first batch of episodes. It’s far behind The Ultimatum but just ahead of Love is Blind: UK.
That’s all for this week, feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below.
Rating: TV-MA
