Netflix’s number one was watched for a third as long as the show beneath it
Our weekly read of Netflix’s own Top 10 data for the UK, US and UAE. This week it exposes how the chart is actually built — and how differently the three countries watch.
Netflix publishes its Top 10 as raw data — every country, every week, with hours viewed and view counts attached. Almost nobody reads the numbers, which is a pity, because this week they contain a better story than the chart does.
For the week of 9 August, the most-watched English-language series on Netflix worldwide was My Life With the Walter Boys season three, with 71 million hours viewed. It ranked second.
The show above it, The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, drew 23.6 million hours — a third as much.
Why the smaller number wins
Netflix ranks by views, not hours. A “view” is total hours viewed divided by the title’s runtime, which is roughly “how many people got through the whole thing”.
Run the arithmetic across this week’s global list and the mechanism is plain:
| # | Title | Hours | Views | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare | 23.6m | 10.6m | 2.2 hrs |
| 2 | My Life With the Walter Boys: S3 | 71.0m | 9.0m | 7.9 hrs |
| 3 | The Bombing of Pan Am 103 | 38.0m | 6.5m | 5.9 hrs |
The ranking follows the views column exactly. And because views are hours divided by runtime, a short title needs far less watching to win. A two-hour documentary reaches 10 million views on 23.6 million hours. A near-eight-hour drama needs 71 million hours to reach 9 million.
This is not a flaw, and Netflix is not hiding it — the methodology is published, and the runtime column sits in the data file for anyone who wants to check the division themselves. But it means “Netflix’s number one show” is a measure of how many people started something, not how much was watched. The two rankings would look quite different, and only one of them gets reported.
The three markets barely overlap
We track the UK, US and UAE. Only four series charted in all three this week.
The UK’s list has a distinct shape: three separate WWE broadcasts (SummerSlam, Raw, SmackDown) plus Ricky Gervais Alley Cats and the children’s show Steve & Maggie. Half the British top ten did not chart in either other market.
The US skews young. Ms. Rachel is in its 60th week on the American chart, and Danny Go! its tenth. Nothing remotely comparable appears in the UK or UAE lists. Pre-school television is the most durable thing on American Netflix by a distance, and it never makes headlines because it never moves.
The UAE list is almost entirely different television. Its top film is shared, but beneath that sit Operation Safed Sagar, Musafir Cafe, Gatta Kusthi 2, Main Vaapas Aaunga and Idhayam Murali — Hindi, Tamil and Korean titles, most of which chart nowhere else we track.
That is not a quirk. Around nine in ten UAE residents are expatriates, with South Asian communities the largest group, and the chart reflects the population rather than the region’s stereotype. The UAE list is the clearest illustration in this data that “what Netflix subscribers watch” is not one thing.
What has refused to leave
Two titles are outlasting everything around them. KPop Demon Hunters is in its 44th week on the UK film chart. Minions is in its 18th in the US, and Despicable Me 4 its 11th in the UK.
The pattern is consistent and slightly deflating: the titles with staying power are overwhelmingly for children. New adult drama arrives at number one and is gone within a fortnight.
Full tables
Television
UK — 1. The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare · 2. My Life With the Walter Boys S3 · 3. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 · 4. Ricky Gervais Alley Cats · 5. Murder in a Small Town · 6. I Will Find You · 7. WWE SummerSlam · 8. Steve & Maggie · 9. Raw · 10. WWE SmackDown
US — 1. The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare · 2. My Life With the Walter Boys S3 · 3. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 · 4. Raw · 5. Best Medicine · 6. Ransom Canyon S2 · 7. Ms. Rachel · 8. The Hawk · 9. I Will Find You · 10. Danny Go!
UAE — 1. Operation Safed Sagar · 2. Musafir Cafe · 3. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 · 4. The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare · 5. I Will Find You · 6. Agent Kim Reactivated · 7. Spooky in Love · 8. Our Sticky Love · 9. My Life With the Walter Boys S3 · 10. The Rookie S6
Film
UK — 1. The Last House · 2. 72 HOURS · 3. The Hangover · 4. A Toxic Love Story · 5. Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy · 6. The Hangover: Part II · 7. Two Weeks Notice · 8. Despicable Me 4 · 9. Geostorm · 10. KPop Demon Hunters
US — 1. The Last House · 2. 72 HOURS · 3. In the Land of Saints and Sinners · 4. Minions · 5. Terry McMillan Presents: His, Hers & Ours · 6. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 · 7. Chief of Station · 8. Spider-Man: Homecoming · 9. Black Adam · 10. A Toxic Love Story
UAE — 1. The Last House · 2. Max · 3. Gatta Kusthi 2 · 4. 72 HOURS · 5. Main Vaapas Aaunga · 6. Idhayam Murali · 7. Elize: Shadows of a Woman · 8. Con City · 9. Love in Slow Motion · 10. Ladies in Black
The Last House took the film top spot in all three markets in its first week, on 51.4 million hours and 27.5 million views globally.
All figures are Netflix’s own, published weekly at its Top 10 site and downloadable as raw data. Country charts give rank and weeks on chart; hours viewed and view counts are global. We publish this every week.
More technology and screen coverage: ChatGPT ads have reached the UK, and the CMA has cleared the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery deal.