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Netflix Originals are perhaps most commonly known for releasing on Fridays, but in recent years, is that still the case? Let’s take a look.
Friday has been the traditional release day for most streamers, and the reason should be obvious. Heading into the weekend, you can almost guarantee that more eyeballs will be on your new show or movie throughout Saturday and Sunday.
In recent years, however, that’s changed. Disney+, for example, used to drop all of its Original content on Fridays but in June 2021 announced it’d be moving drop day from Friday to Wednesday. Since then, it’s released titles throughout the week, with some major Marvel releases dropping on Thursdays.
With a huge content slate like Netflix has, releasing all on one day isn’t realistic. Indeed, Netflix’s TV executive Andy Kubitz recently Tweeted that the “Goal is to have original programming every night of the week. Bringing a great experience to members everyday.”
So let’s dig into some data. Are most Netflix Originals released on Fridays?
Firstly, let’s do a broad look at Netflix Originals since 2013 to see which day is the most popular. This chart includes the release days for 3,284 Netflix Original movies, documentaries, and series (only the first seasons).
Release day of Netflix Originals since 2013 (only includes first season debuts of shows)
So in order:
- Friday – 50.9%
- Wednesday – 16.1%
- Tuesday – 12.8%
- Thursday – 12.2%
- Monday – 4%
- Saturday – 2.4%
- Sunday – 1.7%
In that chart, you can see that Friday is clearly the favored day when it comes to new titles with Sundays being the least likely day to release new Netflix Original content.
Fridays were way more common in the early years of Netflix. Between 2013 and the end of 2015, almost 75% of all Netflix Originals were released on Friday.
So how has this shifted in the past two years if at all?
If we look at release days for all Netflix Original content (including all new seasons of shows), then we can see Netflix is relying far less on Fridays.
Netflix Original release days from January 1st, 2021 to the present day.
So, once again, in order:
- Friday – 38.4%
- Wednesday – 23.3%
- Thursday – 16.4%
- Tuesday – 12.6%
- Monday – 4.9%
- Saturday – 2.6%
- Sunday – 1.8%
The biggest shift you’ll see here is Netflix Originals released on Wednesdays and Thursdays. After all, massive titles like DAHMER released midweek for Netflix and were seemingly unaffected regarding viewership.
Does what type of release have an effect? Not much, according to our data, series and movies are more spread out throughout the week, with movies only marginally more likely to release on Fridays.
What day of the week do you prefer Netflix to release its titles? Let us know in the comments.
