Earlier this month, Netflix released some data showing the total viewership for all of its content from January to June 2023. This is the first time they have released this amount of data for their programming and it gives an interesting insight into what the streamer’s subscribers are watching while it also raises some questions. I went through the top 1000 or so entries looking for the sci fi and fantasy originals from the streamer (focusing on the English-language shows) and I have compiled that list below. Several of the entries make sense, like Wednesday and Manifest topping the genre entries, but several others demand a further look, particularly cancelled shows Lockwood & Co. and Shadow and Bone.
Lockwood & Co. is a supernatural/fantasy series based on the books by Jonathan Stroud and it premiered on the service at the end of January 2023. Since the list covers viewership from January to June, that means that just over five months of data is captured for this show and it ranked at Number 80 with a total of 113.6 million hours watched. That certainly seems like a good debut for a property that was not particularly well known in the States and that received little to no promotion, and that ranks it above other Netflix originals that were renewed. It’s true that Lockwood & Co. is a more costly production for the streamer, but they seem to be getting some return on investment. And this one has developed a very engaged and loyal fanbase as evidenced by the fact that it came in at Number 2 in our Save My Show poll last Summer. That’s a strong indicator that the audience would stick with the show, and it’s something Netflix should pay more attention to.
Placing even higher in the list is the fantasy entry Shadow and Bone, which is based on the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo. That one ranked at Number 26 and totalled 192.9 million hours of viewing for a period of just under four months. Ranking just behind that is the fantasy series Sweet Tooth Season 2, which was at Number 28 and had 182.3 million hours of viewership for just over two months. That one got the third-season nod whereas Shadow and Bone got the ax. And that certainly seems like a miss on the part of Netflix because Shadow and Bone has developed a loyal fanbase just like Lockwood & Co.
Another fan-favorite that was cancelled by Netflix is Warrior Nun, and its second season is all the way down at Number 1004 with 21.3 million hours of viewing. But that one debuted in November 2022, so this is missing the premiere weeks which would have drawn higher viewership. That show also has a very strong following (it topped our Summer poll), and a third-season renewal certainly would not have set Netflix back too much. But these cancellations help to prove that the streamer is always looking for the next big thing and has little interest in cultivating a following for its originals (more on that at this link). Fans of these and other cancelled Netflix entries like The Midnight Club should continue to lobby for their shows because these numbers prove that people were tuning in. If Netflix cannot be swayed to bring them back, perhaps another venue will have an interest, especially after seeing these numbers.
Following is the full list of sci fi and fantasy shows that I tracked from the Netflix data.
| Rank | Title | Release Date | Hours Viewed (Millions) |
| 4 | Wednesday: Season 1 | 11/23/2022 | 507.7 |
| 11 | Manifest: Season 4 | 11/4/2022 | 262.6 |
| 26 | Shadow and Bone: Season 2 | 3/16/2023 | 192.9 |
| 28 | Sweet Tooth: Season 2 | 4/27/2023 | 182.3 |
| 46 | Manifest: Season 1 | 6/10/2021 | 151.4 |
| 54 | Black Mirror: Season 6 | 6/15/2023 | 139.9 |
| 61 | Stranger Things 4 | 5/27/2022 | 133.6 |
| 80 | Lockwood & Co.: Season 1 | 1/27/2023 | 113.6 |
| 92 | Shadow and Bone: Season 1 | 4/23/2021 | 99.5 |
| 116 | Sweet Tooth: Season 1 | 6/4/2021 | 89.0 |
| 150 | Stranger Things: Season 1 | 7/15/2016 | 77.8 |
| 156 | Lucifer: Season 5 | 8/21/2020 | 75.2 |
| 165 | The Witcher: Season 1 | 12/20/2019 | 72.2 |
| 177 | Stranger Things 2 | 10/27/2017 | 69.2 |
| 191 | Stranger Things 3 | 7/4/2019 | 67.0 |
| 196 | The Witcher: Blood Origin: Limited Series | 12/25/2022 | 65.3 |
| 227 | The Witcher: Season 2 | 12/17/2021 | 59.3 |
| 241 | The Sandman: Season 1 | 8/5/2022 | 56.7 |
| 279 | 1899: Season 1 | 11/17/2022 | 51.8 |
| 393 | Lucifer: Season 6 | 9/10/2021 | 41.8 |
| 414 | Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Season 1 | 10/25/2022 | 40.3 |
| 542 | Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself: Season 1 | 10/28/2022 | 33.8 |
| 550 | The Witcher: Season 3 | 6/29/2023 | 33.4 |
| 610 | The Umbrella Academy: Season 1 | 2/15/2019 | 30.6 |
| 647 | The Midnight Club: Season 1 | 10/7/2022 | 29.6 |
| 649 | Fate: The Winx Saga: Season 2 | 9/16/2022 | 29.5 |
| 680 | Lost in Space: Season 1 | 4/13/2018 | 28.6 |
| 713 | Locke & Key: Season 1 | 2/7/2020 | 27.8 |
| 752 | The Imperfects: Season 1 | 9/8/2022 | 27.1 |
| 809 | Fate: The Winx Saga: Season 1 | 1/22/2021 | 25.5 |
| 812 | Raising Dion: Season 1 | 10/4/2019 | 25.5 |
| 813 | Black Mirror: Season 3 | 10/21/2016 | 25.4 |
| 826 | Resident Evil: Season 1 | 7/14/2022 | 25.2 |
| 842 | The Umbrella Academy: Season 3 | 6/22/2022 | 24.7 |
| 861 | Black Mirror: Season 4 | 12/29/2017 | 24.2 |
| 865 | Warrior Nun: Season 1 | 7/2/2020 | 24.2 |
| 897 | Black Mirror: Season 5 | 6/5/2019 | 23.4 |
| 923 | Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Part 1 | 10/26/2018 | 23.0 |
| 967 | The Haunting of Hill House | 10/12/2018 | 22.0 |
| 1004 | Warrior Nun: Season 2 | 11/10/2022 | 21.3 |
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