In the best audience performance week for the top subscription streaming company in exactly a year, Netflix’s UK-set, nanny-cam-fueled murder-mystery miniseries Fool Me Once had a huge premiere, gathering 238.2 million hours of viewing from Jan. 1-7.
Other big performances for Netflix last week, according to Netflix's weekly ranker included filmmaker J.A. Bayona's acclaimed Society of the Snow. The Spanish adaptation of Pablo Vierci book about the still unbelievably harrowing survival of 16 passengers of a doomed plane that crashed in the Andes in October 1972 led all Netflix films, English-language and non-English language, with 55.8 million viewing hours.
And in its second week, the also Spanish-produced Berlin, Esther Martínez Lobato and Álex Pina's spinoff of their popular Netflix caper series Money Heist, absolutely broke out with 146.4 million streaming hours.
Read last week's rankings: The Force Still Wants Nothing to Do With Zack Snyder's 'Soulless "Star Wars" Ripoff,' 'Rebel Moon' -- Netflix Weekly Rankings For December 25-31
You have to go back to the Ginny & Georgia-fueled first week of 2023 to find a bigger audience week for Netflix.
As we wrote about last week in Next TV, based on Netflix's weekly publication of ratings data for its top shows, overall audience performance in 2023 was down about 30% vs. 2022.
Also read: Netflix Released 16% Fewer Shows in 2023
Adapted from best-selling author Harlan Coben's eponymous novel, Fool Me Once represented the rare case of a Netflix premiere debuting the first day of the ranking period. The eight-part limited series' first week was also its first full week, so it's difficult to say if it will catch on and expand into Netflix's first show since Wednesday to break reach or surpass 300 million viewing hours in a week. The series ranked No. 1 in the U.S., the UK and most of Europe last week.
Ranking at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, meanwhile, Society of the Snow is now taking on well-deserved Oscar heat, so it's performance could expand in the coming frames.
And if the success of the enduring Money Heist is any guide -- 2017's season 1 popped up at No. 10 on Netlfix's non-English TV series chart last week -- Berlin could be in for a long fruitful ride, as well.
Meanwhile, among other Netflix premieres last week, comedian Dave Chappelle's latest lash-out at the vulnerable transgender community, titled The Dreamer, captured only 9.7 million viewing hours, well below the debut of his highly controversial The Closer, which drew 14.3 million streaming hours in its first week back in October 2021.
