The classic sitcom Friends has been named the UK’s most popular streaming show. The NBC series, which was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, made its debut on UK Netflix back in January 2018.
Although Netflix spends huge money on productions like The Crown and Stranger Things, and Amazon has its own originals like The Man In The High Castle, a very detailed report from Ofcom states that British viewers streamed more Friends than anything else in the first quarter of 2018.
Ofcom’s Media Nations Report tells us that these were the ten most popular streamed series in the first few months of the year:
Friends (Netflix)
The Grand Tour (Amazon)
The Crown (Netflix)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Peaky Blinders (Netflix)
Black Mirror (Netflix)
The Big Bang Theory (Netflix)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Netflix)
The Good Place (Netflix)
Vikings (Amazon)
Lucifer (Amazon)
Altered Carbon (Netflix)
Orange Is The New Black (Netflix)
Designated Survivor (Netflix)
Grey’s Anatomy (Now TV)
Breaking Bad (Netflix)
Homeland (Netflix)
Paw Patrol (Netflix)
Riverdale (Now TV)
Peppa Pig (Netflix/Amazon)
Of those twenty shows, eight were original streaming service productions, while the other twelve – like Friends – were acquisitions from elsewhere.
Friends seems to be a timeless hit, then. Even though many of us watched it endlessly on E4 back in the day, and more recently enjoyed further reruns on Comedy Central, there is still a loyal audience watching it on Netflix.
Stats like this, of course, will do little to quell the appetite for a Friends revival. Jennifer Anniston recently admitted that she fantasises about bringing the show back to our screens, although it doesn’t seem like the full gang feel the same way.
We’ll keep bringing you Friends news as it happens.