Netflix reveals viewing numbers for its shows and films for first time

Viewers spent 812 million hours watching The Night Agent, Netflix has revealed - after releasing its audience viewer data for almost its entire catalogue for the first time.

The conspiracy thriller starring Gabriel Basso was followed by the second season of Ginny & Georgia, with 665 million hours viewed, and The Glory, which was watched for 623 million hours in the first half of the year.

Other shows in the top 10 included Wednesday, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and the fourth season of You.

The most-watched film on Netflix was The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez, with 250 million viewing hours.

The streaming giant said it would publish its engagement report, which shows what people have been watching on Netflix over a six-month period, twice a year.

The first covers more than 18,000 titles - representing 99% of all viewing on Netflix.

The company said users viewed nearly 100 billion hours in the first six months of this year, while non-English stories accounted for 30% of all viewing.

It described the report as "a big step forward for Netflix and our industry".

The What We Watched report shows how many hours have been viewed for each title watched over 50,000 hours, the premiere date for any Netflix TV series or film, and whether the title is available globally.

It covers more than 18,000 titles, which represent 99% of all viewing on Netflix.

Netflix said over 60% of its titles released between January and June 2023 appeared on its weekly Top 10 lists, adding: "So while this report is broader in scope, the trends reflected in it are very similar to those in the Top 10 lists."

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It noted the "strength of returning favourites" such as Ginny & Georgia, Alice in Borderland, The Marked Heart, Outer Banks, You, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, XO Kitty and film sequels Murder Mystery 2 and Extraction 2.

It also pointed to the "popularity of new series" such as The Night Agent, The Diplomat, Beef, The Glory, Alpha Males, FUBER and Fake Profile, which it said "generate huge audiences and fandoms".

Netflix highlighted the "size of the audience of our films across every genre including The Mother, Luther: The Fallen Sun, You People, AKA, ¡Que viva México! and Hunger".

And it celebrated the "staying power of titles on Netflix, which extends well beyond their premieres", giving the example of All Quiet On The Western Front, which it said was released on October 2022 and generated 80 million hours viewed between January and June.

Netflix also noted the "demand for older, licensed titles, which generates tremendous value for our members and for rights holders".

The streaming service added: "Success on Netflix comes in all shapes and sizes, and is not determined by hours viewed alone. We have enormously successful movies and TV shows with both lower and higher hours viewed.

"It's all about whether a movie or TV show thrilled its audience - and the size of that audience relative to the economics of the title"