Helen James
Over-the-top video-on-demand streaming services have drastically changed the way we watch movies and TV in the past few years, delivering high-quality content to both TV sets and mobile devices. With more than 247 million paid subscribers worldwide in the third quarter of 2023, Netflix is the clear leader on the market and is available in over 190 countries.
With that in mind, the team at SuperCasinoSites decided to see what most people have been watching this year. To uncover 2023’s most-watched films and TV series around the world, we delved into the official Netflix statistics for the weekly Top 10s in every country. We examined data covering watched content between January 1st and October 29th of this year in 60 countries, to compile a list of the most streamed films and TV shows around the world for 2023.
The Most Streamed Films in Every Country
Disney’s animated film “Encanto“ was the most streamed movie on any platform in 2022, according to a Nielsen analysis. The second most-watched film was Pixar’s “Turning Red”, both on Disney+, followed by “Sing 2” by Universal/Illumination, which was available on Netflix.
This year, one of the most streamed movies on the platform is “PAW Patrol: The Movie”, an animated film based on the television series of the same name. It is the top film of 2023 in Australia, Ireland, Germany, Israel, Finland, Estonia, and the United Kingdom. The film, which stars Kim Kardashian, Jimmy Kimmel, and Dax Shepard, was released back in 2021 but continues to be one of the most popular children’s titles. It was also a huge box office success, grossing more than $151 million globally against a production budget of only $26 million. Its sequel premiered in September 2023 and is likely to also become a hit on streaming platforms after the end of its theatrical window.
Another extremely popular movie on Netflix this year is also a 2021 film, “F9: The Fast Saga”. And just like “PAW Patrol”, a sequel to “F9” was released earlier this year; “Fast X”, or the 11th film of the “Fast and Furious” franchise. The tenth installment was the top Netflix film in Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Bulgaria. In Jamaica, Romania and the Dominican Republic, the most watched movie so far this year has been “The Mother”, an action thriller starring Jennifer Lopez. In the summer, Netflix announced that the title has become one of its most popular films of all time, only a month after its premiere on the platform.
Another film that quickly made it to Netflix’s Top 10 lists soon after its release is “Luther: The Fallen Sun”. Starring Idris Elba, it is a continuation of the crime thriller series “Luther”, and is the most streamed title in Portugal, Spain, and Greece. At the other end of the spectrum, the animated musical films “Sing” and “Sing 2” have also been widely popular on Netflix over the past months, with the first installment reaching the top position in countries such as Bolivia, Chile, and Guatemala.
“Sing” is the most streamed film in Mexico, too, while north of the border, another animated movie is this year’s most streamed title. Audiences in the United States have been enjoying “Minions: The Rise of Gru” more than any other film on the platform. The 2022 movie, which is the fifth part of the “Despicable Me” franchise, has been in the U.S.’ Top 10 the most over the past 10 months.
When looking at these top 10 lists of the most streamed films, we can notice interesting regional preferences and 2016’s movie “Sing” is just one of several examples. Another one is “The Mother”, which is popular among audiences in the Caribbean region. The Canadian children’s animated film “PAW Patrol”, however, can be seen across the board, with kids all over the world being glued to their seats whenever the rescue pups are on the screen.
The Most Streamed TV Shows in Every Country
Last year, the fourth season of the Netflix original blockbuster “Stranger Things” became the most streamed TV series, on Netflix or any other platform. It was followed by “Ozark” and “Wednesday”, the former of which continues to be vastly popular in 2023. It has been in Netflix’s weekly top 10 lists several times and in almost every country. Still, it remains the top TV show in a handful of places, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, and India, if we look at how long it has been in the Top 10 and in which position.
Right now though, it’s other TV shows that seem to be attracting greater viewership, and one of them is “The Night Agent”. The action thriller premiered on Netflix on March 23rd of this year, and within just a month it became the sixth-most-viewed series on the platform. Since then, it has risen to the top position in many countries, including Australia, France, the UK, and Denmark. In fact, it is the most streamed series in a third of all the countries and territories we analyzed.
Except for huge international blockbusters such as “PAW Patrol” and “The Night Agent”, the local and regional preferences are quite noticeable when it comes to TV series. In Latin American countries, for example, the biggest TV show this year has been Season 3 of “La Reina del Sur”. The Spanish-language telenovela, with a title which translates as “The Queen of the South”, is not the typical soap opera telenovela. This is probably why it became so popular after its original release in 2011. The crime thriller, about a young woman who becomes the powerful head of a drug cartel, has since inspired an English-language remake,“The Queen of the South”, starring Alice Braga.
The third season of “La Reina del Sur” is the top-streamed TV show in Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, and even Spain. It beats the other popular drug cartel-based series on Netflix, “Pablo Escobar, el patrón del mal”, or “Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord”, which is based on the true story of Pablo Escobar. The first season of the Colombian telenovela is the top-ranked show in Colombia, Ecuador, and Honduras. Another telenovela from Columbia, although in a completely different genre, appears as one of the top titles in several other countries. The romantic comedy “Til Money Do Us Part” is a favorite among audiences in Chile, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.
In many Asian countries, on the other hand, the most streamed series since the beginning of 2023 has been the South Korean drama “The Glory”. The series deals with issues such as bullying in school and the desire for revenge, and is the top title in South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
It is also interesting to see where “The Witcher” has had the biggest impact. The third season of the series, which stars Henry Cavill as Gerald of Rivia (Liam Hemsworth will take over in the fourth season), is based on a series of fantasy novels and stories by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. So, it is hardly a surprise that the show is 2023’s most streamed series in Poland, but it is also favored by audiences in Romania and Bulgaria.
Country-Specific Media Libraries and Limited Availability
Comparisons of the most popular films and TV shows around the world have certain limitations beyond regional preferences. Over-the-top, video-on-demand (OTT VOD) streaming platforms, including Netflix, offer different titles in each country and territory. In March 2023, Slovakia had the largest Netflix media library with 8,427 titles in total, followed by Bulgaria with 8,272 and Latvia with 8,092. In the UK, on the other hand, people had access to 7,482 titles, nearly 1,000 fewer movies and TV shows than Slovakia. Netflix subscribers in France had even more limited options with only 6,842 titles offered.
We also need to keep in mind that certain productions are available on the platform for a limited time. As new titles are brought in, others are left out even though they may be popular among viewers. The same applies to other large streaming services such as HBO Max (now known as just Max in certain territories), for example, which removed dozens of titles following the merger of its parent company, WarnerMedia, with Discovery.
It should also be noted that Netflix makes its Top 10 lists based on viewership. The number of views, however, is calculated as the total hours viewed divided by the total runtime. So, the runtime of a particular show has a direct effect on its performance on the platform, when compared with other productions.
A good example of the runtime effect is “Wednesday” which has only eight 47-48 minute long episodes and a total runtime of 6:49 hours, whereas “Stranger Things 4” has 13:04 hours of runtime. As of November 5th, “Wednesday” ranks as the most-watched series of all time on the platform (within the first 91 days of release) with 1.7 billion hours watched, or the equivalent of 252.1 million views. Despite being watched some 119.2 million hours more, “Stranger Things 4” ranks second as this is equivalent to 140.7 million views.
Methodology
Similarly to other streaming services, Netflix does not release detailed, country-specific data. It reveals the number of views and the hours a film, or a TV show, has been watched globally. The statistics also show the total runtime, as well as the number of weeks that a season of a tv series, or a film, has spent in the Top 10.
What we looked at, however, were the Top 10 lists for nearly 100 countries, which are released every Tuesday. These country lists are ranked by views for each title from Monday to Sunday of the previous week, with values rounded to 100,000. The map we created was based on data for a select 60 countries, not all 93 countries. To see which film or TV show has been watched the most over the previous 10 months, we looked at how many weeks it has spent in the Top 10, and at what position.
Based on this, we gave each title a score, with films and shows at number one position receiving 10 points, while those in the tenth position received only 1 point. The title with the highest score was the top title in that particular country. Another thing to keep in mind is that we did not split the titles into English-language and non-English films and series; they were all reviewed equally.