Caribbean Business Reports

As the year draws to a close, Netflix today shared lists of its most popular content to prove, if nothing else, that its original content is just as good as any in light of serious threats to its dominance in recent months, with more to come in 2020.

The streaming giant shared a series of ‘Top 10 Most Popular’ releases on its platform in the United States for its Netflix What We Watched 2019 – US.

Among its 10 most popular releases for the year, Netflix said its original film “Murder Mystery” starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston was the most viewed. The hit Netflix original series “Stranger Things” was second on the list which also includes in-house productions “The Irishman” and “The Witcher”.

It may be welcomed news for Netflix however cynics may question its methodology which determines popularity by the number of household accounts which watch at least two minutes of a series or film in the first 28 days of release to the streaming service. Previously, Netflix calculated viewership by the number of accounts that completed at least 70 per cent of a programme. The new metric is expected to level the playing field for more long-form titles that may not be completed due to length.

• Related story: Disney Plus launches as streaming wars intensifies

The lists are somewhat of a mixed bag for Netflix though as many of the series and television shows that made the cut were not produced internally.

For example, in news that will bolster Disney’s confidence heading into 2020, two of the most popular movie releases – The Incredibles 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2-, on Netflix were from the Mouse House’s studio.

• Related story: Netflix bounces back in Q3 with earnings of US$5.24 billion

Disney had previously announced that it would pull all its content from Netflix, providing it and US$1 billion worth of additional original programming in the first instance, on its own platform.

Disney Plus launched on November 12 and reportedly racked up 10 million subscribers in little over a day. That number grew to about 24 million within three weeks, led by the strength of its content and US$7 monthly subscription fee.

• Related story: Apple TV+ launches in crowded streaming market

Also competing with Netflix in the growing market is Apple’s service, Apple TV+ which launched on November 1 with all original content.

Netflix’s 150 million subscriber base leads the market, which also includes Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, but much could change when NBC Universal’s “Peacock” and HBO’s “HBO Max” join the fray in early 2020.

Select Netflix 10 Most Popular lists

10 Most Popular Series on Netflix in 2019

“Stranger Things 3”
“The Witcher”
“The Umbrella Academy”
“Dead to Me”
“You: Season 2”
“When They See Us”
“Unbelievable”
“Sex Education”
“13 Reasons Why: Season 3”
“Raising Dion”

10 Most Popular Nonfiction Series on Netflix in 2019

“Tidying Up With Marie Kondo”
“Jailbirds”
“Rhythm and Flow”
“You vs. Wild”
“Nailed It: Season 3”
“Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: New 2019: Fresh Brewed”
“Awake: The Million Dollar Game”
“Sugar Rush Christmas”
“Prank Encounters”
“Sugar Rush: Season 2”

10 Most Popular Comedy Specials on Netflix in 2019

“Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones”
“Kevin Hart: Irresponsible”
“Gabriel ‘Fluffy’ Iglesias: One Show Fits All”
“Ken Jeong: You Complete Me, Ho”
“Amy Schumer: Growing”
“Bill Burr: Paper Tiger”
“Aziz Ansari: Right Now”
“Jeff Dunham: Beside Himself”
“Wanda Sykes: Not Normal”
“Mike Epps: Only One Mike”