And the Netflix series with the highest ratings is. . .
Our streaming significant other, Netflix, isn’t big on revealing ratings for its original shows. We get that. All Netflix shows are created equal, and all of them are perfect in our eyes whether we’re talking about Orange is the New Black, Bloodline, or House of Cards. But now an independent research company, Luth Research, has shed some light on the highest rated Netflix original series. Any guesses?
It’s surprisingly not House of Cards. It’s not OITNB. It’s not even Kimmy Schmidt! Nope, the most popular Netflix Original is the Man Without Fear, Daredevil.
Understand that Luth Research isn’t measuring how many stars each series receives, or even how many single episodes have been watched (aka binged) over time. Instead, they’re looking at how many Netflix subscribers tuned in to a new show when it dropped onto the site over roughly a 30-day period. Luth Research also only sampled about 2,500 Netflix subscribers, so their numbers could be a little bit off, considering that there are 40.9 million subscribers in the United States alone. Their sampling is still very telling, even if it’s more of just a general ballpark figure.
While House of Cards still rates pretty high as the third most watched, its been edged out by the new guy in town. According to Luth Research, within the first 30 days of House of Cards‘ Season 3 release, 6.5% of subscribers watched one episode. Daredevil, on the other hand, had 10.7% of subscribers watching at least one episode within its first 11 days of release.
And what’s #2? Kimmy Schmidt, of course. She scored at 7.3% of viewers watching one episode within the first month. That’s right, females are strong as hell! And in this case, stronger than Frank Underwood (but, shh, don’t tell him that).
Variety drew up a cool little graph to better explain the stats and clearly show the percentage of subscribers watching, along with the number of days into the show’s release. (OITNB is not on the graph, because their last season was released before this sample was taken, same with BoJack Horseman. They haven’t been forgotten about, don’t worry). It clearly shows that there was a HUGE spike in Daredevil‘s viewership immediately after it was released, probably because everyone started talking it up. Then, it slowly trickled down as everyone finished their 13-episode binge.
Poor Bloodline‘s way down at the very bottom, with only 2.4% of subscribers watching one episode over 29 days. That actually makes me a little sad so I need to do a little plug for Bloodline, because you should be watching it. If Frank Underwood could get a Netflix subscription, he’d love Bloodline. So you should check it out, too. Otherwise yes, just join the rest of us over on team Daredevil.
Image via here, and Netflix.