16 July 2026
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Today, we’re sharing what our members watched on Netflix from January to June 2026.
Engagement for Netflix is about winning the most valuable moments of truth — that moment when people pick up their remote or phone, decide to press play on something they’ve discovered on Netflix and stay to watch.
We measure engagement not only by thequantityof hours watched, but also thequalityof that experience for our audiences. To be successful, we also need to have avarietyof programming that appeals to different tastes and moods.
Since 2021, we’ve made it easier for audiences to see the viewing numbers behind what’s popular on Netflix, starting with ourweekly Top 10andMost Popular Lists. We built on these efforts with ourWhat We Watchedreports to better capture the quantity of all hours viewed on Netflix over a six-month period. Starting in Q1 2027, we will move from a six-month to a yearly snapshot.
For this report, our audiences watched more than97B hourson Netflix — our highest view hours to date for a half — across a variety of genres and languages. Here’s what we found:
Our audiences love to discover and watch new series
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Five of the top 10 most-watched shows premiered in the first half of this year, withI Will Find You(64M) andTeach You a Lesson(48M)from South Korea both reaching the top 10 less than a month after their releases.
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We saw big audiences for new stories such asHis & Hers(104M)—the #1 most watched show in the half —along withRun Away(50M) andNemesisSeason 1 (33M), which was recently renewed for a second season.
New seasons consistently drive discovery and viewing of past seasons of a series
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The return ofBridgertonSeason 4 (100M) nearly tripled viewing of every earlier season of the beloved franchise (includingQueen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), when compared to the second half of 2025. Together, the entireBridgertonfranchise brought 180M views in the first half of this year.
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We also saw a boost in viewership for past seasons of series includingONE PIECE(69M views across seasons),The Night Agent(63M views across seasons),Virgin River(54M views across seasons) andThe Lincoln Lawyer(59M views across seasons).
Netflix original films continue to draw in huge audiences across genres
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Our action film slate performed particularly well this half, withThe Rip(136M),Apex(129M) andThrash(100M) among our most-watched.War Machinewas our biggest title in the half with 147M views.
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Animated films are becoming hits.Swappedcame in at 131M views in the half and is on track to become our second most-watched original animated film ever, behindKPop Demon Hunters(130M) — which came in at #4 despite premiering over a year ago.
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We’re seeing real fandom for our book-to-screen adaptations, with successful films includingPeople We Meet on Vacation(78M) andRemarkably Bright Creatures(51M).
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Rom-coms likeOffice Romance(58M) andVoicemails for Isabelle(53M) also moved audiences.
Non-English titles represent more than a third of all viewing on Netflix, with titles from South Korea, Japan and Spain among the most-watched
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South Koreacontinues to deliver a strong slate of titles includingTeach You a Lesson(48M),Can This Love Be Translated?(29M),The Art of Sarah(26M),My Royal Nemesis(16M) and the Season 2 return of the hit seriesBloodhounds(24M).
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Japancontinues to drive viewing with original stories likeStraight to HellSeason 1(10M) andSins of KujoSeason 1(9M).
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Spainreleased several popular titles this half includingFirebreak(34M),The Marked Woman(26M),OasisSeason 1(10M), and from the creators ofMoney Heist—Berlín and the Lady with an Ermine(28M).
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Indiahad its highest viewing for a half yet with hits likeDhurandhar(37M) — our most-watched non-English film in this report —Accused(19M),Made in Korea(18M) andTaskaree: The Smuggler’s WebSeason 1(16M).
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South Africabroke through with global successes like180(37M) for film andThe PolygamistSeason 1 (17M) for series.
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We continue to deliver even more original stories that resonate locally and travel globally includingColors of Evil: Black(23M)fromPoland,Radioactive EmergencySeason 1 (22M) fromBrazil,A Father’s Miracle(21M) fromMexico,Jo Nesbø’s Detective HoleSeason 1 (22M) fromNorway,My Dearest Assassin(18M) fromThailand,The Big Fake(17M) fromItalyandThe Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek(11M) fromDenmark.
Our members enjoy a variety of different programming
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Must-watchlive eventsbrought audiences together in the first half for everything from Kevin Hart’s comedy spectacle withThe Roast of Kevin Hart(21M)to Alex Honnold’s thrill-seeking climb withSkyscraper Live(13M) and BTS’ monumental comeback withBTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG(21M) that thrilled fans around the world.
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More than half of our members today have watched at least oneanimetitle, where we saw breakouts with new stories likeBAKI-DOU: The Invincible SamuraiSeason 1(8M),STEEL BALL RUN: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure(8M) andCosmic Princess Kaguya!(8M).
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Documentariesof all kinds captivated viewers — from true crime stories likeThe Crash(65M),to pop culture sensations likeReality Check: Inside America’s Next Top ModelSeason 1 (22M) and epic prehistoric tales likeTheDinosaursSeason 1 (32M).
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Kids & familycontinues to perform well, with creators likeMs. Rachel,our most-watched kids title at 69M views across two seasons, plusMark Rober’s CrunchLabs(36M across four seasons) and newcomersSalish & Jordan Matter(29M across both seasons) andDanny Go!Season 1 (26M).
Here were our top 10 most-watched movies and shows from this report:
Download our full report for the first half of 2026here.
