Netflix released some new numbers for viewership and streams from last week. The good news for Netflix is that Wednesday is still one of their biggest hits of all time! I mean, beyond the royal stuff, it was really smart for Netflix to make the investment in the Wednesday series, and I hope we get a second season. So, Wednesday was still #1. Harry and Meghan was #2, just like the week before. Considering H&M is a docuseries, it’s pretty remarkable to see the numbers they’re pulling.
Tim Burton’s “Wednesday” was the most-watched title on Netflix for the fourth week in a row. The series was watched for 174 million hours in the Dec. 12-18 viewing window after almost a full month of streaming. This puts it at at a total of 1.2 billion minutes watched since its debut, trailing just behind “Stranger Things” Season 4 (1.35 billion) on Netflix’s chart of the most popular English-language titles of all time, where it landed last week after usurping “Monster — Dahmer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”
And after dropping its final three episodes on Dec. 15, “Harry & Meghan” beat its showing from last week, which had already made it Netflix’s biggest documentary debut of all time. It was watched for 97.7 million hours between Dec. 12 and Dec. 18 compared to the previous 81.6 million. It’s likely that the series might have led the chart if it had debuted during a different part of the year, but the staying power of “Wednesday” has been hard to beat. Still, with only four days of availability of the last three episodes measured so far, it seems likely that “Harry & Meghan” will continue to endure on the chart.
I’ve seen the British papers try to claim that the second volume of Harry & Meghan wasn’t as successful or as watched as the first three episodes, but here’s proof that people stuck around and watched the last three episodes. Which, in my opinion, were more interesting than the first three. What’s also hilarious is that British people are consuming the Sussexes’ Netflix series to a crazy degree.
Harry & Meghan, the Netflix documentary about the life of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has become the UK’s most-watched subscription TV series of the year so far, figures show. The first episode was seen by an average of 4.5 million people in the seven days after its release on December 8.
This is more than a million and a half higher than the equivalent figure for episode one of the new series of The Crown (2.8 million), which was released a few weeks earlier on November 9.
Welp. I remember a time not so long ago when those old fart royal reporters were crowing about how no one in the UK subscribes to Netflix and how no one would watch anything the Sussexes were part of. In recent weeks, those same royal reporters have been bragging about some ridiculous poll done in the UK about how the Sussexes are so unpopular. Looks like millions of Britons were curious enough to watch the series. I wonder how many times those reporters hate-watched it.
Our biggest documentary debut ever.
Harry & Meghan. Now on Netflix pic.twitter.com/iF7hP83c3x
— Netflix (@netflix) December 21, 2022
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
I wonder how many new subscriptions Netflix got in the UK.
I subscribed just to watch them. So one new recruit here.
After 2 years of absence, I renewed my subscription to watch Harry and Meghan’s docuseries
I feel like Netflix is a staple and I can’t give it up. I’ve spent months not watching it in favor of the glossier programming on Max, Apple, BritBox, etc, but I’m just rediscovering Netflix’s amazing catalog of international programming. Netflix: come for the Harry & Meghan, stay for the Spanish noir.
@Zazzoo, throw some international recommendations my way.
@Petra – I really like noirish films and I’m really impressed with Spain’s offerings. Two I highly recommend are the Platform and Below Zero. I also recommend the Russian series To The Lake and the German series Dark. And the Korean series Alice in Borderland. If dark isn’t your thing, it’s worth just navigating through the options. The algorithm will help you out of course.
@Zazzoo thanks for all your recommendations, and it’s hard to know when everything has voiceovers, but just FYI that Alice in Borderland is Japanese, not Korean.
@Petra,
Not sure if still in Netflix’s catalog, but The Break (Belgian), Bordertown (Finnish), The Forest (French), Chestnut Man (Danish), The Valhalla Murders (?Norwegian?), Capitani (Luxembourgian), Blackspot (French), Marcella (British), Lupin (French), Deadwind (Finnish), The Killing (US remake) with Mereille Enos and Joel Kinnaman was really good, too.
@Zazoo- yes to The Platform (****chills***).
@ Lux – Thanks for the correction. That’s an embarrassing mistake. I watched it directly following Squid Game (which everyone already knows about) and I guess I conflated the two.
Thanks Zazzoo and everyone else for the recommendations. You all are the best!
So, there are approximately 19.3 million households in the entire UK…if 4.5 million watched the first week, that is 23.32% of the possible viewers tuning in. I am very curious to see how many UK subscribers Netflix has to see what percentage of that number watched the truth unfold in real time. A quick google search has conflicting numbers ranging from 26-33%…and that is just households, not even accounting for multiple viewers in each household. #SussexFlex
My favorite line in the quoted article is that the doc “has become the UK’s most-watched subscription TV series of the year so far.” Like, it’s December 22nd. Do they expect the Pantone Princess of Peggers to all of a sudden whip out her digits and beat those numbers with her juvenile piano recital Christmas Carole (with an e) special? ’Cause…
By how many people was the carol concert watched last year? Wasn’t it around 2 million? Or am I confusing that with earhtshot 2021?
Earthsh*t and the carol concert didn’t register on the TV ratings.
The Carol show had 1.92 million tv watchers.
Love that for them.
I hope this isn’t thread jacking (if it is please get rid on comment @kaiser) but has anyone noticed how because of Jeremy Clarkson’s disgusting racism and misogyny, people have stopped talking about how Wilileaks leaked stories against the sussexes and how he and his wife abused and gaslighted them. The conversation around JC absolutely needs to continue and I for one really hope that people openly cal out the royals for keeping their mouths shut instead of condemning the abuse against Meghan but W seems to benefitting from the “distraction”
I dunno, I don’t think wills is benefiting from it at all. The Clarkson thing just proves H&M’s point. Even though Camilla is more at the center of this people are talking more about Will’s covered up scandals.
Wait now for BM to crow ´but it FAILED to beat Wednesday!´ Duh 🙄
I watched each set of three episodes the day they came out in the end (here in the UK) and there was so much to take in that I am absolutely planning to put them on again when I have some downtime between Christmas and the new year. Enjoy my viewing figures Netflix and H&M.
With you on this (I’m in the US). I’ll rewatch to listen more. These are amazing numbers. LOL @ the ones twisting/turning that the subscriber numbers of H&M’s docuseries was less than Strictly Come Dancing The freaks come out at night.
The BM has actively chosen to ignore some things. Through the BM, people have been told that Samantha Cohen was a member of the non-existent “Sussexes Survivor Club” A club NO ONE has claimed to be a member of. Maybe the two faced rat fink liar Jason Knauf. A single member of the club.
Episode 4 of the H&M docuseries Meghan discusses how someone (it’s fairly obvious that it’s Samantha Cohen) discussed what a great member of the BRF she would be. A foreign organism that would find resistance but would move things forward. paraphrasing
The day after Vol. I came out the Royal reporter from the Sun was saying that it was a flop. He has egg on his face now. I plan to rewatch it during the Christmas break.
“What’s also hilarious is that British people are consuming the Sussexes’ Netflix series to a crazy degree.”
THIS.
I just don’t get it.
They are obsessed with them.
I get it. The majority of Brits don’t actually hate H&M. They (UK citizens) want to hear what the Sussexes say. They are not as hated in the UK as some want people to believe. A whole turtle shell game.
I’ve watched each episode 3 times and will watch it again when my hubby comes home.
Congratulations to the Sussexes on telling their story and having the highest subscription series in the UK🎉🎉🎉
Those losers are obsessed with Meg and Harry and cannot get enough of them. Especially the stale, pale white faux journalist. Suck it and may your tea be forever bitter.
Let the church say “AMEN!” and ditto.
Alright so someone who is better at this help me out, lol. So because H&M is shorter than Wednesday, does that mean more people watched it? Still not as many as Wednesday obviously but I saw 97.7 million compared to 175 and thought that seemed like a really big gap but if the series is shorter it seems to make up that gap a bit? Does my question make sense?
Anyway regardless, I am so happy to see that the series is still doing so well. Every time I log into Netflix and see Harry and Meghan sitting at #1 or #2 I smile.
I have mentioned before that I have a friend who still subscribes to People, lol, and basically believes all the tabloid headlines but not in an overly malicious way. Like she thought their house in Montecito was too lavish (I shut her up by showing her Bagshot and Gatcombe, lol) but she’s not especially anti-Harry and Meghan, she just sort of wants to think the best of the royals, I guess. So she thinks what happened is sad but that W&K probably did the best they could, etc.
Anyway, she’s watching the series now and keeps texting me and after the first volume she was just like MY MIND IS BLOWN! There’s just so much she had no idea about and this is where the conversation about the press is so important, because she’s realizing that so much of what she accepted as fact was just……PR.
I’m assuming she is not the only one realizing that when it comes to the royals.
I’m most impressed by the stat that it’s in the top 10 in 85 countries. Can’t find the stat I saw about how many in which it was number one this week, but that list includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand. In most of Europe (I haven’t checked every country), if it’s not number one, it’s number two behind Wednesday. That’s some global reach, undoubtedly including most of the Commonwealth, and potentially bad news for KC and his motley crew. I’m happy for H&M they were able to reach so far with their own narrative, and people can now decide for themselves what they think as opposed to being spoonfed via media outlets whatever agenda the RF and their sycophants want to promote.
Has the March of the Burgundy Coats aired yet? What is the viewership number?
I don’t think so.
Not until Christmas Eve.
not a huge surprise given all the haters watched when they said they wouldn’t. curiosity got the best of them. this was great for netflix and i bet everyone in the board room are counting the money they got. this was definitely the biggest documentary they’ve put out. and really smart for them to make it a two parter for even more self-promotion. hopefully this enthusiasm will translate to more independently produced archwell docu series.
People need to also remember that the press are also angry because they see these viewing numbers and they’re not benefiting.Harry and Meghan flipped the script on them. Harry and Meghan are telling their own stories and people can now go to them directly. All these commentators, experts and bloggers and youtubers see all this money going into the Sussexes pockets now. The press know this and they’re pissed. What this really comes down to is money and control and they’re pissed they don’t have it and I wonder what the royal family will do because I got the sense that the media is getting ticked with the royals for not fulfilling their end of the deal.
Exactly. A big part of the H&M Netflix series is that the RR and the BRF planted stories against and silenced the Sussexes. Netflix reaches worldwide and the series isn’t aired only to disappear shortly afterwards. The British media has had to adjust to that and so far, it hasn’t come with a winning formula. Next, many recent events have just served to highlight H&M’s point: the JC debacle being the most recent.
Add in the avalanche of photos and videos that would be potentially worth millions of dollars in the hands of the media. Seeing all that must really sting.
I savor the viewing numbers. Remember when the press/family were predicting Harry would be crawling back after a year? Like as if the Sussexes couldn’t hack it in the real world. Oh ye of little faith. The reality is that H & M are blooming, healthier than ever, and the rota can stay jealous.
Just saying Netflix stocks went up.
I’ve watched Wednesday twice now but I also watched all of H&M. I’m not surprised it’s doing well. Is there anyone who watched The Crown who wouldn’t also want to at least take a glance at H&M? Doesn’t Netflix have a built in audience for all things BRF?
Twin Falls, what I found interesting is that The Crown and Harry and Meghan took the top 2 spots under searches on Netflix. I think there are more people watching The Crown–probably the last 2 seasons.
Of course it’s Netflix’s most watched documentary of all time. I love how the BRF thought the Oprah interview was a fluke! And right on the heels of it, they have Live to Lead coming out. Now I don’t think Live to Lead will necessarily be #1 automatically but I could see it being in the Top 10!
I imagine that these numbers have translated into a large bonus for the Sussex’s and that they’re wealthier than William! Plus, there are no pesky strings attached to how they choose to spend their money, I love this for them ❤️
How do they get paid? A one time amount? Percentage of profits? Ex dollars per episode? They need to generate sufficient income to support their charities and I’ve often wondered how it is they do this?
Someone said once that their contract would likely have included a flat rate from Netflix with specific bonuses and achievement clauses or the like. So the flat fee and then a payout based on hitting certain viewership numbers or other goals.
Ok, thanks.
I hope Wednesday gets all the seasons, but I’m already bored of the school setting. I want to see her out in the real world.
I started rewatching an episode a day after bench-watching the series as it was released. I’m surprised to see I missed a lot of details from bench-watching the first time around.
My takeaway from the 6 episodes is that life is all about love. Love in all its amazing forms (philautia, storge, Eros, philia, ludus, pragma, and agape.)
I’m happy Harry and Meghan’s love won.
As we know, Netflix don’t care why you’re watching, only that you do and preferably that you pay for your own subscription to do so.
The first three episodes were sweet and softer. The second three packed the punch which is why I think it had higher numbers.
My Brazilian sister in law who was sort of on the fence watched and came down firmly on team H&M. She didn’t really like episode 1, though M was “overacting”. I’ll have to watch it again to see if I can see what she meant. I think some things are lost in translation (figuratively)
I’d say the ratings for the H&M docuseries are remarkable because they did no press for it (that I know of). The “stars” featured in the series weren’t on late-night talk shows or giving interviews about what viewers could expect. It’s really unheard of that a series gets this much attention with only a couple of trailers promoting it released a week before the first batch of eps dropped. And now that it’s a hit, Harry and Meghan *still* aren’t doing promotions for it. With Wednesday, Netflix didn’t promote it much beforehand, but as soon as the numbers started rolling in, they put so much promotional content up on their socials featuring Jenna Ortega and other stars behind the scenes and doing interviews. But with the Harry&Meghan series, it literally just sells itself. The stars do nothing, and they don’t have to. Maybe because the rabid British tabloids did all the advertising for them lol.
Ive seen so many people on twitter confessing to having changed their minds about H&M after watching the docu; that they now love them; that they now understand and can see how the royal family and the media have run a smear campaign against them; etc.
And while I appreciate that these people are seeing how wrong they were and how they had allowed the media to manipulate them, I must confess that I’m nevertheless so disgusted by people like these that I want to spit in all their faces.
FFS its been SIX BLOODY YEARS!!! An entire fking country sat back and allowed themselves to be used as beating sticks to torment a young woman mercilessly for SIX FUKKKKING YEARS!!!! And all its leaders: political/civic/social/religious remained silent. Impotent. The lone voices of protest from sources like the female MPs and a few others were way too weak to make a dent in the din coming from the nasty, gutless, racist white supremacists that form the backbone of britain.
Six bloody years and these people are only now seeing the truth? Exactly how many dumbfukks are in the world, anyway? Its true that I have a very low tolerance for stupid people (who, btw, can be found in very demographic) but the frightening thing is that the hatred and racism and threats against H&M were only getting worse, which makes it a genius move on their part to do this docu. But what if they hadnt?
As Dr Safiya Noble said, it was an attempt at symbolic annihilation; that if you can destroy people who are symbols of social justice then you can scare people into not wanting to be public; its a way to signal to the rest of us that that hey, you better stand down.
I agree with everything you’ve said, and also….did these people ever stop to think? Many of us here did, which is how we were able to see through the smears and the lies etc.
For example, the bits about Meghan screaming at staff and being a bully etc. The reports of her from Suits are glowing. There are pretty much no negative rumors about her behavior on sets or anything. She’s good friends with her makeup artist (he was at her baby shower for crying out loud!) she’s still friends with people she grew up with. Those aren’t the markers of someone who is narcissistic bully. So many of the lies just don’t make sense if you stop for a minute and think critically about them.
But people just read the headlines and accept it as fact and move on.
And that’s what the royal rota are counting on — that people will just unthinkingly accept the BS they’re selling.
That is about 17 million people if everyone watches all six hours. Not bad for Netflix.