Netflix has announced that the "Witch" fantasy series, which aired on the streaming giant just a month ago, is already on its way to being the most watched series in its first season.
Netflix is ​​known for not publishing its viewership data, and in this way manages to maintain ambiguity, especially for content that does not receive particularly impressive viewing data. However, in a statement from company and media shareholders this week about the latest quarter of 2019, the content provider reported that the new series is a hit among 158 million subscribers worldwide, despite the critical reviews from TV critics.
"The Wizard" is based on the fantasy book series "The Gralt saga of Marija" by Polish author Andzei Spekowski. The series stars former Superman, the British actor Henry Cabill, who plays a sorcerer and a monster hunter. Since rising over a little over four weeks ago, it has seen 76 million subscribers, according to Netflix.
In addition, high figures were released for two other big launches in December: the second season of the romantic suspense drama "You," which saw 54 million subscribers, and the action film by director and producer Michael Bay, "Underground Six," starring Ryan Reynolds and Israeli Lior Rez 83 million subscribers.
However, it's important to consider and explain the method Netflix chooses to measure views. If in the past the definition of watching was a subscription that watched at least 70 percent of one episode in one season or 70 percent of a movie - with the new Netflix method enough that a subscriber watched at least two minutes of content. Netflix notes in the report that two minutes is sufficient time to determine that the viewing was intentional.
Surprisingly, watching figures for Netflix's two most talked-about films of the recent era, Martin Scorsese's "The Irish" and Noah Bambooch's "Marriage Story" - which Oscar nominees - did not appear in the report.