The latest Netflix stats show Wednesday crosses the billion hours viewed mark on its third week

Here at Cultbox we’ve been impressed by the audience figures for Wednesday, and now we learn the show has already crossed the billion hours viewed mark. The latest Netflix Top 10 feature gives some good perspective, which won’t stop us from giving our own! We also love the show and heartily recommend it.

What does a billion hours mean?

When we covered the Nielsens, we ran into many occasions where a show would garner a US audience of more than a billion minutes in one week. This lead to the useful article on Lucifer’s Billions to help get some perspective on the sheer scale of audience. Similar back of envelope calculation by Netflix themselves gives us:

In its third week, the comedy mystery starring Jenna Ortega has crossed 1 billion hours viewed with a total of 1.02 billion total hours viewed, becoming only the third title to cross this milestone within its first 28 days joining Stranger Things 4 and Squid Game. The cultural phenomenon also climbed into the #2 spot on the English TV Most Popular List. Since its debut, more than 150M households have seen the series (1.02B divided by 6.8 hours). The smash hit also held the #1 spot with 269.67M hours viewed this week and is #1 in 90 countries

We think their division is a little simplistic, but there you have it.

Just how impressive is it?

The numbers are for the third week of Wednesday. The show came out mid-week (on a Wednesday [sic!] not the regular Friday), so there are only 19 days worth of data here. Netflix keeps a Top 10 shows after 28 days viewing table, and it already places Jenna Ortega’s Nevermore Academy experience in second place:

Netflix Top 10 after 28 days as of December 11 2022
It can’t be long before Wednesday crosses the final barrier and takes the #1 position. It’s all good news for Netflix.

Note also DAHMER didn’t make a billion hours until we consider the first 60 days of viewing (a less discussed metric). Three weeks for a new show is nothing short of phenomenal.

What next?

We hear strong rumours about season 2 and even noises about season 3. Expect also plenty more YA / high school / magic shows over the next few years (of which we’ve had no shortage!) Meanwhile we’re fitting in a rewatch before Christmas…