Dec 13, 2023

Netflix Releases Huge Viewing Data, Big Surprise on Most Watched Animated Series and Movies

Netflix has released its first report containing viewing time data for over 18,000 titles from January through June 2023. Netflix will continue to release this treasure trove of data twice a year.

The report does not distinguish between content types, but includes all movies, series, and specials that were watched for more than 50,000 hours in the first six months of the year.

So we combed through this material and compiled several lists specific to animation. Some titles have been distributed for years, while others were relatively new when this data began being tracked, so this data is not complete, but it is certainly valuable when observing larger trends on steamers. click here for the full Netflix report. (An Excel document with program data can be downloaded here.)

The Netflix report lists individual seasons of shows separately. Using this metric, the 10 most-watched animated series are as follows:

The perceptive reader will notice that only one Netflix original show on this list, "Sonic Prime," and all others are acquired shows. It is also worth pointing out that Netflix only has global rights to certain shows, such as "Little Angel," "Sonic Prime," and some seasons of "CoComelon."

For an idea of which titles are most popular overall, we added the total hours watched for the most-watched series on Netflix and created the following list:

Note that the definitions of season, part, chapter, and volume vary by studio and distributor The definitions of season, part, chapter, and volume tend to vary from studio to studio and distributor to distributor. Some of these titles are special programs that have logged tens of millions of viewer hours, but are not accounted for in this list.

Also excerpted are the 10 most-watched animated feature films on Netflix in the first half of the year.

Again, Netflix originals, even the most high-profile originals, lag far behind the major acquisitions; the only Netflix-produced animated feature in the top 10 was Chris Williams' "Kaiju," which was the only Netflix-produced animated feature to make the list.

The next highest original feature was Wendy Rogers' The Magician's Elephant, which was released on March 17, a stunning performance considering it was only available for half the month tracked in the report. It was the 16th most watched animated film on Netflix, logging 48.3 million viewing hours.

Perhaps surprisingly, Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio" was only the 20th most watched animated film on Netflix in the first half of the year, despite being available for all six months tracked and winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature during that time.

Update: Filmmaker and VFX artist Ryan Grobbins has examined the full list of Netflix's 18,000 titles and sorted through all the animated feature films.