Dystopian thriller “Leave the World Behind” was Netflix’s most-watched film (and overall title) globally in the second half of 2023, while anime-inspired live-action series “One Piece” topped the TV category.
The data comes from Netflix’s second edition of “What We Watched: Netflix Engagement Report,” and reflects the streamer’s viewership from July to December 2023, accounting for 99% of all viewing on Netflix. Subscribers worldwide watched approximately 90 billion hours of Netflix in the second half of 2023, compared to 93 billion hours in the first half of the year.
Last December, Netflix announced its first big data dump covering the first half of 2023. In its second report released Thursday, the company added watch time and number of views (total watch time divided by watch time), separated movies and TV series, and included weekly top 10 lists and popularity rankings. It was synchronized with.
Leave the World Behind, the fifth most popular movie in Netflix history, has been viewed 121 million times in just over three weeks since its release on December 8, 2023. The film is executive produced by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and produced by Higher Ground. , starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Myhala Herold. The action thriller “Heart of Stone” starring Gal Gadot recorded approximately 110 million views in the second half of 2023.
Adam Sandler’s LEO has become the biggest animated film in streaming history, racking up 96 million views since its release on November 11th. Nowhere became the third most popular non-English speaking film in Netflix history, with 86 million views.
Among TV series, “One Piece” drew nearly 72 million views, more than double the viewership of Netflix’s entire anime movies and series, followed by limited series “Who Is Erin Carter?” (50.1 million), “Lupin” Part 3 (49.7 million), “The Witcher” Season 3 (47.9 million) and “Sex Education” Season 4 (46.3 million).
Licensed content also continues to be popular on Netflix: Suits alone has drawn 144 million views across nine seasons as of late 2023, followed by Young Sheldon (88 million), Grey’s Anatomy (51 million), Gossip Girl (49 million), and Gilmore Girls (45 million).
The full spreadsheet covering Netflix viewing from July to December 2023 (6,599 series seasons and 9,395 movies) can be found at this link. Other highlights from the report:
- Netflix’s three biggest titles in history, “Wednesday,” “Red Notice,” and “The Squid Game,” continued to captivate viewers even after their debut. In 2023, “Wednesday” had a total of 98 million views, “Red Notice” had 62 million views, and “Squid Game” had 25 million views.
- Netflix’s first trilogy of “Lupin the Third” drew nearly 100 million views in late 2023, while its “CoComelon” kids show drew nearly 200 million views across its eight seasons. Other popular titles (counting all seasons) were “The Witcher” (76 million), “Virgin River” (69 million), “The Crown” (50 million), “Sweet Magnolias” (35 million), “Top Boy” (26 million), “Heartstopper” (24 million), “Syntonia” (20 million) and “Sweet Home” (17 million).
- Non-English language shows and movies accounted for nearly one-third of all viewing on Netflix. Korean (9% of viewing), Spanish (7%) and Japanese (5%) language stories garnered the largest share of non-English viewing. Standouts cited by Netflix include Germany’s Dear Child (53 million views), Poland’s Forgotten Love (43 million views), Mexico’s Pact of Silence (21 million views), South Korea’s Mask Girl (19 million views), Japan’s Yu Yu Hakusho (17 million), Spain’s Berlin (11 million) and India’s The Railway Men (11 million).
- Sports was an increasingly popular category, with shows like “Beckham” (44 million views), “Untold: Johnny Football” (14 million views) and “Quarterback” (13 million views) racking up a combined 184 million views in the second half of 2023.
- Kids and families made up 15 percent of total viewership, with titles like “Gabby’s Dollhouse” (90 million), “Family Switch” (62 million) and “The Monkey King” (43 million).
Here are the top 15 TV titles streaming on Netflix in the second half of 2023, ranked by number of views.
title | release date | Total watch time | Total Run Time (hrs) | View count |
One Piece Season 1 | 2023-08-31 | 541.9 million | 7:34 | 71,600,000 |
Dear Child: Limited Series // Liebes Type: Mini Series | 2023-09-07 | 252.8 million | 4:49 | 52,500,000 |
Who is Erin Carter?: Limited Series | 2023-08-24 | 286,200,000 | 5:43 | 50,100,000 |
Lupin the Third Part 3 | 2023-10-05 | 274.3 million | 5:31 | 49,700,000 |
The Witcher: Season 3 | 2023-06-29 | 363,800,000 | 7:36 | 47,900,000 |
Sex Education: Season 4 | 2023-09-21 | 374.7 million | 8:06 | 46,300,000 |
Beckham: Limited Series | 2023-10-04 | 208.5 million | 4:45 | 43,900,000 |
Cocomelon: Season 8 | 2023-04-10 | 40,100,000 | 1:04 | 37,600,000 |
Virgin River: Season 5 | 2023-09-07 | 331.4 million | 9:16 | 35,800,000 |
The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 2 | 2023-07-06 | 292.3 million | 8:11 | 35,700,000 |
Painkiller: Limited Series | 2023-08-10 | 171.4 million | 4:59 | 34,400,000 |
All the Light We Cannot See: Limited Series | 2023-11-02 | 129.9 million | 3:50 | 33,900,000 |
My Life with Walter Boys: Season 1 | 2023-12-07 | 254.3 million | 7:37 | 33,400,000 |
King the Land: Limited | 2023-06-17 | 630,200,000 | 19:00 | 33,200,000 |
Squid Games: Challenge: Season 1 | 2023-11-22 | 270.6 million | 8:10 | 33,100,000 |
Here are the top 15 movies on Netflix for the second half of 2023.
title | release date | Total watch time | Total Run Time (hrs) | View count |
Leaving the world behind | 2023-12-08 | 286.3 million | 2:22 | 121 million |
cold heart | 2023-08-11 | 228,400,000 | 2:05 | 109.6 million |
leo | 2023-11-21 | 171,200,000 | 1:47 | 96,000,000 |
Anywhere | 2023-09-29 | 156,600,000 | 1:49 | 86,200,000 |
outlaw | 2023-07-07 | 135,500,000 | 1:37 | 83.8 million |
Hidden Strike | 125,900,000 | 1:43 | 73.3 million | |
reptiles | 2023-09-29 | 165,600,000 | 2:16 | 73,100,000 |
killer | 2023-11-10 | 135.6 million | 2:00 | 67.8 million |
Family Switch | 2023-11-30 | 109.4 million | 1:46 | 61,900,000 |
The Boss Baby | 100,700,000 | 1:38 | 61,700,000 | |
you are not invited to my bat mitzvah | 2023-08-25 | 105,100,000 | 1:44 | 60,600,000 |
Paw Patrol: The Movie | 84,500,000 | 1:26 | 59,000,000 | |
Rebel Moon — Part 1: Fire Child | 2023-12-21 | 131,100,000 | 2:16 | 57.8 million |
Extract 2 | 2023-06-16 | 111,900,000 | 2:04 | 54,100,000 |
love at first sight | 2023-09-15 | 78.8 million | 1:31 | 52,000,000 |
Miracle: Ladybug and Cat Noir, the Movie | 2023-07-28 | 84,500,000 | 1:42 | 49,700,000 |