Netflix Released Record-Breaking 1,024 Original TV Episodes in Q3 — More Than Five Times Any Other Service
Netflix has taken peak TV to a new peak.
In a data point sure to fuel more quantity-versus-quality debate, Netflix broke its own record for number of original episodes released in a single quarter — with 1,026 in the third quarter of 2022, according to a tally by Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson.
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That’s more than five times any other streaming rival: Amazon Prime Video and Hulu released 223 and 194 episodes, respectively, and Disney+ debuted 140 original episodes, per the report. HBO Max, now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, released 114 episodes in the third quarter — significantly fewer episodes than usual and comprising the lightest slate for the service since Q2 2020, the second quarter after launch. WBD has been paring back HBO Max’s content slate in recent months as it looks to cut costs.
All told, Netflix premiered 159 original and exclusive shows in Q3, topping its previous high-water mark of 143 in Q4 2021 (which totaled nearly 900 episodes). Top TV titles Netflix premiered in the most recent quarter include Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” starring Evan Peters, which in its first three weeks has become the second most viewed English TV show on Netflix (after “Stranger Things 4”).
Other buzzy releases were Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman,” “Cobra Kai” Season 5, “Locke & Key” Season 3 and docu-series “How to Build a Sex Room.” In addition, Netflix dropped the final two episodes of “Stranger Things 4” on July 1 — a bid to pull fans of the show into its Q3 subscriber numbers.
Netflix’s big surge in Q3 came after a slowdown in output related to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And the bump comes as the U.S. streaming market has plateaued at 81% of U.S. households, according to survey data from HarrisX commissioned by MoffettNathanson.
“Streaming’s penetration of American households has hit maturity, as has nearly every individual service
except for the newest entrants of Peacock and Paramount+,” the firm wrote in its Q3 SVOD Tracker report. “Streaming services are no longer vying to add customers new to streaming, but rather to add (and keep) customers already within the streaming ecosystem.”
Netflix has taken a “something for everyone” strategy, as Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos has said — although that doesn’t mean everyone will be a fan of everything on the service. (Indeed, watching more than 1,000 episodes in a 90-day span would be virtually impossible.) According to the streamer, customers on average watch six different genres every month, ranging from drama to horror and from comedy to kids.
So Netflix, by releasing five times as much raw TV tonnage as its nearest competitors, is looking to cover the waterfront with stuff that appeals to a variety of tastes. But, of course, quantity isn’t everything, as the MoffettNathanson team pointed out: Amid its lower-than-usual volume of originals in Q3, HBO Max released “The House of the Dragon,” the “Game of Thrones” prequel series that was heavily marketed and has been a strong ratings draw. As of Sept. 20, “HOTD” Season 1 was averaging 29 million viewers per episode across all platforms.
Meanwhile, note that the episode counts don’t include licensed second-run shows. For Netflix in Q3, those included the CW’s “Riverdale” Season 6, “The Flash” Season 8, “In the Dark” Season 4, “Dynasty” Season 5 and “Roswell, New Mexico” Season 4. Also during the quarter, Netflix released Season 6 of the ever-popular “CoComelon” preschool series from Moonbug Entertainment.
Netflix’s Q3 lineup of original TV shows spanned scripted, unscripted/reality, kids and documentary formats, and includes a number of international productions. Some of Netflix’s non-English productions have been significant draws, including five Korean shows that debuted in Q3 like “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” “Alchemy of Souls,” “Little Women,” “Young Lady and Gentleman” and “Narco-Saints” — which have consistently been in Netflix’s Top 10 Non-English TV rankings for the last five weeks.
Here’s the list of TV shows released by Netflix in Q3 (all are first seasons unless otherwise indicated):
July 2022
Alba
Alchemy of Souls
Another Self
Attack on Pearl Harbor: Minute by Minute
Backstreet Rookie
Bad Exorcist (Seasons 1-2)
Big Timber (Season 2)
Blown Away (Season 3)
Boo, Bitch
Capitani (Season 2)
Car Masters: Rust to Riches (Season 4)
Case Closed: Zero’s Tea Time
Change Days (Season 2)
Control Z (Season 3)
Country Queen
Detective Conan: Zero’s Tea Time
DI4RIES
Dream Home Makeover (Season 3)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Fanático
Forged in Fire (Season 8)
Gabby’s Dollhouse (Season 5)
How to Build a Sex Room
How to Change Your Mind
Hurts Like Hell
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous (Season 5)
Keep Breathing
King of Stonks
Komi Can’t Communicate
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight
Lego Ninjago (Season 5)
Married at First Sight (Season 11)
Mom, Don’t Do That!
My Unfamiliar Family
No Regrets in Life
Oggy and the Cockroaches: Next Generation
Oh My Baby
Pororo & Fairy Tales
Rebel Cheer Squad: A Get Even Series
Remarriage & Desires
Resident Evil
Ride on Time (Season 4)
Sintonia (Season 3)
StoryBots: Laugh, Learn, Sing (Collection 2 – Learn to Read)
Stranger Things (Season 4 – Volume 2)
Street Food: USA
Sunny Bunnies (Seasons 5-6)
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem (Season 2)
The Flash (Season 8)
The House of Dark Secrets
The Longest Night
The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch
Uncle From Another World
Uncoupled
Virgin River (Season 4)
August 2022
A Clean Sweep
A Model Family
Ancient Aliens (Season 4)
Angry Birds: Summer Madness (Season 3)
Big Tree City
Cafe Minamdang
Chad and JT Go Deep
Change Days
Club América vs Club América
Deepa & Anoop
Delhi Crime (Season 2)
Drive Hard: The Maloof Way
Echoes
Endless Night
Family Secrets
Glow Up: The Next Make-Up Star (Season 4)
Good Morning, Verônica (Season 2)
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Season 3)
High Heat
History 101 (Season 2)
I Am a Killer (Season 3)
Indian Matchmaking (Season 2)
Instant Dream Home
Iron Chef Brazil
Junior Baking Show (Season 6)
Kakegurui Twin
Kleo
Lady Tamara
Locke & Key (Season 3)
Ludik
Mighty Express (Season 7)
Mo
Never Give Up
Never Have I Ever (Season 3)
Partner Track
Pawn Stars (Season 13)
Polly Pocket (Season 6)
Queer Eye: Brazil
Riverdale (Season 6)
School Tales the Series
Selling the OC
Super Giant Brothers
Superbro (Seasons 1-2)
Team Zenko Go (Season 2
Tekken: Bloodline
The Cuphead Show! (Season 2)
The Girl in the Mirror
The Sandman
Top Gear (Seasons 29-30)
Under Fire
Unsuspicious
September 2022
Ada Twist, Scientist (Season 3)
Bastard!! -Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy- (Season 1 – Part 2)
Bee and Puppycat
Buy My House
Call the Midwife (Season 11)
Chef’s Table: Pizza
Cobra Kai (Season 5)
Cocomelon (Season 6)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Dated & Related
Designing Miami
Devil in Ohio
Diary of a Gigolo
Dogs in Space (Season 2)
Dynasty (Season 5)
Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga
El Rey, Vicente Fernández
Entrapped
Fakes
Fate: The Winx Saga (Season 2)
Floor Is Lava (Season 3)
Flower of Evil
Fortune Seller: A TV Scam / Wanna
Go, Dog. Go! (Season 3)
Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance
Heartbreak High
Human Playground
I Survived a Crime
In the Dark (Season 4)
Indian Predator: The Diary of a Serial Killer
Inside the World’s Toughest Prison (Season 6)
Intervention (Season 21)
Iron Chef: Mexico
Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega (Season 2)
Karma’s World (Season 4)
Little Women
LOL House of Surprises
Love Between Fairy and Devil
Love Is Blind: After the Altar (Season 2)
Merlí. Sapere Aude (Season 2)
My Little Pony: Make Your Mark (Chapter 2)
Narco-Saints
Off the Hook
Once Upon a Small Town
Only For Love
Phantom Pups
Power Rangers: Dino Fury (Season 2 – Part 2)
Roswell, New Mexico (Season 4)
Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles (Season 2)
Santo
Sins of Our Mother
Snabba Cash (Season 2)
Story Time Book: Read-Along
Terim
Thai Cave Rescue
The Brave Ones
The Empress
The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (Season 2)
The Girls at the Back
The Great British Baking Show (Collection 10 / Season 3)
The Imperfects
The Least Expected Day: Inside the Movistar Team (Season 3)
The Lørenskog Disappearance
The Wiggles: Ready, Steady, Wiggle! (Season 3)
The Wiggles’ World
Too Hot to Handle: Brazil (Season 2)
Who Likes My Follower?
You’re Nothing Special
Pictured above: Evan Peters in Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”
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