Netflix racks up 96bn viewing hours as global hits and local stories share the spotlight

Netflix members watched a combined 96bn hours of content between July and December 2025, underlining the scale of the platform and the breadth of what audiences choose to watch.

In a statement accompanying its latest Engagement Report, Netflix said the figure represents all viewing in the six-month period and is measured using its standard metric of “views”, defined as total hours watched divided by a title’s runtime. The company said this approach allows films and series of different lengths to be compared more evenly.

The report highlights a mix of global franchises and newer originals. KPop Demon Hunters emerged as the most-watched title over the six months, drawing 482m views. The film’s spin-off lyric videos added a further 32m views, illustrating how music and short-form extras can amplify engagement beyond the main release.

Long-running series continued to perform strongly. Stranger Things season five generated 94m views on its own, while all five seasons combined reached 275m views, nearly a decade after the show’s debut in 2016. Wednesday season two was listed as the most-watched show in the report with 124m views, compared with 47m for season one.

One of the clearest trends is the growing importance of non-English language titles. Netflix said these accounted for more than a third of all viewing in the period. South Korea remained a major contributor, with The Great Flood attracting 66m views and Love Untangled 29m. Squid Game season three logged 79m views, making it the fourth most-watched show of the half.

Japanese titles also featured prominently, including Last Samurai Standing season one with 21m views and Alice in Borderland season three with 25m. Elsewhere, The Elixir reached 23m views, while India’s The Ba***ds of Bollywood season one recorded 10m.

European productions also travelled. Denmark’s The Asset season one drew 23m views and Mango 21m, while Norway’s Troll 2 reached 44m. Netflix also cited strong performances from titles produced in Spain, France, Turkey, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

Genre breakdowns in the report suggest audiences continue to mix comfort viewing with experimentation. Comedy films such as Happy Gilmore 2 led the category with 135m views, followed by Madea’s Destination Wedding at 60m. Comedy series including Man vs. Baby season one added 44m views.

Anime accounted for more than 4% of total viewing, with DAN DA DAN season two attracting 17m views and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 11m. Book-to-screen adaptations also performed well, including Frankenstein with 98m views and My Oxford Year with 86m. Netflix noted renewals for My Life With the Walter Boys season two and The Hunting Wives season one.

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Documentaries and children’s and family programming also featured heavily, reinforcing the platform’s reliance on a broad slate rather than a handful of hits.

Netflix said the full Engagement Report for the second half of 2025 is available to download. Taken together, the data offer a snapshot of a service that increasingly depends on a mix of global franchises and locally produced stories, with non-English language titles now a central pillar rather than a niche.

The Recap

• Netflix members watched 96 billion hours in the second half.
• KPop Demon Hunters had 482 million views in six months.
• Company offered full report download for the second half 2025.