Is ‘Narcos’ Season 3 Netflix’s Biggest Hit? Here’s An Idea Of Netflix’s Ratings

By Kayla Cobb @kaylcobb
Published Sep. 14, 2017, 4:39 p.m. ET

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As great as Netflix’s original content is, sometimes it can feel like you’re watching it in a vacuum. Because Netflix is so secretive about its numbers, it’s unclear whether 50 or 50 million people have seen your latest show obsession. Typically, we have to gauge a show’s popularity using social media reactions and Google Trends, but a recent report from Parrot Media at least tries to give some more concrete numbers.

The report, which focuses on the first week numbers for some of Netflix’s biggest summer 2017 shows, comes from a piece by The Hollywood Reporter. Ahead of Sunday’s Emmys, Kim Masters explores how the runaway success of Stranger Things — 2016’s breakout summer show — has affected the show’s second season and how Netflix thinks about television as a whole.

Masters’ piece examines how Stranger Things has paved the way for licensed merchandise revenue and questions how its child actors will negotiate their deals moving forward. According to one source, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin each signed contracts saying they would receive $30,000 per episode for the show’s first and second seasons. That $30,000 figure doesn’t include the bonus the cast received once the show became a hit. However, as the cast is signed on for six years, it’s unclear if its breakout stars Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard will negotiate separately or not.

The article also includes a section comparing the first week numbers of Stranger Things’ 2016 release to that of other Netflix Originals. It should be noted that these are not official numbers. Only Netflix knows how many people watch its original programming, and aside from the rare confirmation that a show is doing well, the company is notoriously secretive about those numbers. However, Parrot Media is an analytics company that has been monitoring and speculating about Netflix’s numbers for a while now. By default, they’re just about the closest answer we have to “how many people are watching these shows?” So without further ado, here are how many people Parrot speculates watched the following shows during their first week on Netflix:

I don’t know if these numbers are right. However, I do know that people adore Narcos, Ozark, and Stranger Things. It’s been a good summer to be a Netflix subscriber.

Stream Narcos on Netflix

Stream Ozark on Netflix

Stream Stranger Things on Netflix