‘Girls5eva’ Proves Netflix Bounce Won’t Boost All Series Transplants

“Girls5eva” seemed like the perfect candidate to receive the Netflix bounce — the well-documented phenomenon when a show’s migration to the service significantly boosts its popularity, thanks to the platform’s unrivaled scale and engagement in the streaming field. 

Critically acclaimed and produced by the creative team behind early Netflix success “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” the musical comedy series was saved by the Big Red N after Peacock looked poised to cancel it (echoing the journey to Netflix of “Kimmy Schmidt” itself). Though “Girls5eva” had struggled to break out on its original platform, there was reason to believe the series would explode on Netflix, not least because of the past success of quirky comedies “The Office” and “Schitt’s Creek” there. 

Alas, viewership data suggests the series’ second life may end much the same way as its first. 

“Girls5eva” appeared to get off to a decent start in its debut week on Netflix. Its first season ranked among the top 15 most streamed original TV seasons for the week by viewing time, with more than 116 million minutes viewed, according to Luminate’s new streaming viewership charts. (This reflects the Friday-to-Thursday period of March 15-21 and accounts for the U.S. only.)

But troubling signs were already present: The second season ranked far below the first at no. 49, with just 45 million minutes viewed. The new Netflix-original third season did not crack the top 50. 

By the following week, season 1 had sunk to no. 30 on the chart (S2 dropped off completely), with its viewership declining more than 50 percent to around 57 million minutes. That translates to around 252,000 estimated views, per the now-guild-certified metric dividing the season’s total running time by its minutes streamed. 

When examining day-to-day data on the series as a whole, it becomes even more apparent that few viewers completed the show. Following a high point in its first weekend of release, season 3 never again crested 2.5 million minutes viewed in a single day. 

Netflix certainly did expand the series’ audience; there were days in the past two weeks when season 2’s viewership surpassed that of entire weeks during its initial rollout on Peacock, per Luminate data. (Data on season 1 from the year of its Peacock debut is unavailable, though it has been streamed far more in its time on Netflix than at any time in the past two years.) 

But with viewing already trending downward, it’s unlikely “Girls5eva” will achieve the explosive, Netflix-fueled popularity of series like “You” and “Suits.” The talent community must face the unfortunate fact that the Netflix bounce is not guaranteed — and that, with content budgets shrinking in the post-peak TV era, fewer new series will likely get the chance to receive it going forward.

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