Pictured: The Witcher, Nimona, Through My Window 2
Welcome to your weekly rundown of the biggest stories from Netflix’s top 10 hourly figures drop for July 2nd, 2023. This week, we’ll cover newcomers Nimona and the first volume of The Witcher season 2 plus taking updated looks at Through My Window 2, Extraction 2, and the return of Ghosts of the Abyss.
Every Tuesday, Netflix updates its top 10 stats page with 40 new hourly figures of the top movies and shows of the past seven days. If you want to browse the top 10 hourly data easily, visit our tool.
Note: In this report of Netflix’s hours viewed from June 26th, 2023, to July 2nd, 2023, we’ll use “Complete Viewings Equivalent,” or CVE, expressed in millions. That is the same metric used now by Netflix in its Top 10 following the June 2023 update in methodology. 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.
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1. The Witcher is back.
The Witcher is back to slay some monsters in its third season, a season split in two as per Netflix’s new trend, and once again, it’s hard to see the upside of this split as season 3 did a good launch but is far from being extraordinary or even all-time Top-10 material.
With 15.2M CVEs over its first four days, this marks the fifth-best launch for a returning US series launched on a Thursday.
The Witcher S3 Volume 1 CVE viewership vs. other Netflix Originals
Compared to the launch of Season 2, Season 3 is not on a good path so far.
The Witcher season 3 vs season 2 viewership progression
It might be because of all the turmoil among fans about the series, the departure of Henry Cavill, or even the quality of this season. Still, it could also be because some watchers are waiting for the whole season to be released to start watching. Now, the series is already renewed for a fourth season, and Netflix is betting on it through various other projects, so let’s not worry. Yet.
2. Nimona crashes and burns.
It was Netflix’s big play in animation for this second trimester of 2023 with great word of mouth, quite the marketing push, and a premiere during the prestigious Annecy Animated Film Festival, but let’s say that the gamble did not pay off as Nimona crashed and burned in its first week-end with only 3.2M CVEs, the worst launch for a US animated film on record that have managed to enter the top 10s.
Nimona vs. other Netflix Original animated movies
Now, it’s better than some other Netflix animated films that did not make the Top 10 when they were released (such as Wendell & Wild, My Father’s Dragon, or Apollo 10 1/2), but if not for the change of methodology for Netflix’s Top 10, the film would not have charted this week.
3. Through My Window 2 falls hard in week 2
Last week, the Spanish rom-com sequel Through My Window 2 did an OK launch but completely faltered in its second week, losing 28% of viewing time, one of the worst drops in week 2 for any Netflix film released on a Friday.
Through My Window 1 vs 2 CVE viewership
It will not replicate the success of the first film that still stands at #3 on the all-time Top 10 most popular international films and it will be lucky to do just half of what the first film did. That’s quite the misfire, and there’s a third film releasing soon.
4. Extraction 2 keeps going strong
Another sequel that does great, however, is “Extraction 2”, losing a decent 59% viewing time in its third week. After 14 days, it stood at 96,2M estimated CVEs, the 7th-best launch for any Netflix films released over the past two years.
5. Ghosts of the Abyss comes back from the deep.
The most noticeable title of the Top 10 this week is the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss which managed to reach #8 on the English Top 10 whilst being only on Netflix in Latin America. The disappearance of the OceanGate submersible is likely the reason why Netflix subscribers over there watched the documentary directed by James Cameron in 2003.