Nearly three years ago, Netflix struck a deal with Universal Filmed Entertainment, expanding the streaming company's access to the studio's animated features.
That program licensing deal paid off for Netflix last week in a big way, with four of Universal's "Despicable Me" franchise titles ranking in the top 10 of domestic movies on the platorm.
In fact, 2017's Despicable Me 3 topped Netflix’s weekly English film rankings for the week of Feb. 5-11 with 23.9 million hours viewed and 15.9 million total views.
Read last week's rankings: Why 'The Greatest Night in Pop' Helps Further Burst the Blockbuster Movie Bubble-- Netflix Weekly Rankings for January 29 - February 4
The arrival of the film also boosted catch-up viewing for previous titles in the Illumination Entertainment-produced CGI-animated family-film series series, with 2015's Minions ranking No. 4 among English-language films (14.5 million viewing hours and 9.6 million views), 2013's Despicable Me 2 placing fifth (14.8 million viewing hours and 9.1 million views, and the first title in the series, 2010's Despicable Me, ranking No. 6 with 11.6 million hours steamed and 7.3 million views.
Meanwhile, another acquired title, 2006 Fox dramedy feature The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep, ranked ninth on Netflix’s English film rankings with 7.8 million hours viewed and 4.3 million views, despite being unavailable to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
That’s impactful for Netflix, considering the streamer just last year began restructuring its film group in order to scale back the production of original movies.
It’s a major shift in strategy compared to how the streamer operated a decade ago, when Netflix committed to doubling its spending in original content in order to pad out its content library and build its business.
Burdened by what they discovered to be the high cost of building their own Netflixes amid declining revenue performances from the linear sides of their businesses, Hollywood's conglomerates are back to licensing movies and shows to the real Netflix in a big way.
According to Netflix's What We Watched engagement report, which was published in December, 45% of the streamer’s viewership from the first six months of 2023 came from licensed titles.
Also consider: Among top English-language TV series, three of the top 10 were acquired reruns, including off-FOX series House, M.D., Cartoon Network's The Regular Show and CBS Chuck Lorre hit Young Sheldon.
Netflix’s original crime-drama series Griselda lost more than half of its audience from the week prior, but it remained the most watched show on Netflix with 56.9 million viewing hours and 10.3 million views.
