‘The Night Agent’ Has Netflix’s Biggest Debut Week Since ‘Wednesday’
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“The Night Agent” might not be pulling “Wednesday” numbers, but the new thriller series had a very strong first week on Netflix.
The Shawn Ryan-created thriller topped Netflix’s Global Top 10 English TV series list in its first week of availability, with 168.71 million hours viewed. That’s the most for Week 1 of a new Netflix series, English-language or otherwise, since “Wednesday.” And we’re only counting four days of viewing, as “The Night Agent” debuted on a Thursday; Sunday night is Netflix’s weekly cutoff.
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Beyond new debuts, “The Night Agent’s” start was the single best week for a show since Season 2 of “Ginny & Georgia” premiered to 180 hours viewed. Last week marked the third-biggest week for the debut of a Netflix show since the streamer started publicizing the Top 10 lists.
“Wednesday,” of course, still ranks at No. 1 in terms of new-series debuts, after it opened to a whopping 341.23 million hours viewed during the week of November 21, 2022. (And that was from just five days of availability.)
No. 2 is “Dahmer,” which had a 196.2 million-hour opening week in September. Note that Netflix only begin publishing the Global Top 10 lists in June 2021, meaning the first seasons of blockbuster shows — like “Stranger Things” or “Bridgerton” — aren’t included in these measurements.
Both “Dahmer” and “Wednesday” were buzzy titles that eventually ranked at No. 3 and No. 2 of Netflix’s All-Time list of highest-performing English shows. (Netflix cuts that ranking off after a season’s first 28 days of availability.) We’ll see soon enough if “The Night Agent,” which has generated less viral attention, has the legs to eventually get there.
The only other show on the Top 10 that made its series debut after Netflix begin sharing weekly viewership is the limited series “Inventing Anna.” That one debuted in February 2022 with just 77.3 hours viewed, partially due to premiering on a Friday. More time — and word of mouth — blew things up in its second week to the tune of 195.97 hours.
NICOLE RIVELLI/NETFLIX
Elsewhere on the English-TV chart for last week, “Love Is Blind” Season 4 and docuseries “Waco: American Apocalypse” ranked at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively; “You” Season 4 slid to No. 3 after spending two weeks at the top.
Korean thriller-series “The Glory” remained at the top of the Non-English TV chart for the third week. At 413.05 million total-hours viewed, it now ranks sixth on the all-time list for Non-English TV seasons.
“Luther: The Fallen Sun” topped the English film list for the third week, this time with a total of 160.2 million hours viewed.
Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, “The Night Agent” follows FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), a Night Action telephone operator who gets caught in a government conspiracy. Hong Chau, Luciane Buchanan, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Sarah Desjardins, Eve Harlow, Phoenix Raei, Enrique Murciano, and D. B. Woodside also star in the show, which is executive produced by Ryan, Seth Gordon, Marney Hochman, Julia Gunn, Jamie Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Paul Neinstein, Nicole Tossou, and David Beaubaire.
Take a look at Netflix’s global viewership charts, dated March 20 – March 26, below.
English TV Top 10
1. “The Night Agent:” Season 1
2. “Shadow and Bone:” Season 2
3. “You:” Season 4
4. “Love is Blind:” Season 4
5. “Waco: American Apocalypse” (Limited Series)
6. “Shadow and Bone:” Season 1
7. “Outer Banks:” Season 3
8. “Sex/Life:” Season 2
9. “Wednesday:” Season 1
10. “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared” (Limited Series)
English Films Top 10
1. “Luther: The Fallen Sun”
2. “The Magician’s Elephant”
3. “I See You”
4. “Dragged Across Concrete”
5. “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story”
6. “Murder Mystery”
7. “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”
8. “Riddick”
9. “Minions: The Rise of Gru”
10. “We Have a Ghost”
Non-English TV Top 10
1. “The Glory:” Season 1
2. “Sky High: The Series:” Season 1
3. “Who Were We Running From?:” Season 1
4. “I Am Georgina:” Season 2
5. “Crash Course in Romance:” Season 1
6. “Maestro in Blue:” Season 1
7. “Wrong Side of the Tracks:” Season 2
8. “Close to Home: Murder in the Coalfield”
9. “Invisible City:” Season 2
10. “Mr. Queen”
Non-English Films Top 10
1. “In His Shadow”
2. “Noise”
3. “Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga”
4. “Still Time”
5. “All Quiet on the Western Front”
6. “Johnny”
7. “Furies”
8. “Sir”
9. “City of God”
10. “Sky High”
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