There’s no magic formula for guaranteeing which film and television projects will be able to find a massive audience on streaming, but if there was, then Netflix would appear to have it tucked away safely in their back pockets. While the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Disney Plus expansion has yielded some chart-toppers, the world’s most popular platform tends to top the Nielsen ratings nine times out of ten.
Unsurprisingly, that’s true of the latest viewership data, as per Deadline. Smash hit teen drama Outer Banks has remained the series to beat, with the global phenomenon remaining at the head of the pack after racking up a combined total of 1.16 billion minutes between August 9th and 15th. That’s down roughly 50% from the previous week, which goes to show how many subscribers binged the entirety of Season 2 as soon as it dropped.
Essentially a much sexier version of The Goonies, Outer Banks follows a group of close friends on the hunt for a stash of gold, but they end up getting drawn into a wide-ranging conspiracy that sees them run afoul of the authorities, their families, a mysterious organization and much more, with plenty of death and heartbreak along the way.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s animated effort Vivo took second place among Netflix originals and third overall, with episodic thriller Hit & Run the only other in-house exclusive to make the Nielsen Top 10, but Outer Banks was the sole title to exceed a billion minutes in total.