These Are the Most Popular Streaming Series This Week

For the avid TV watcher, it seems like every other week someone you know is raving about a popular [...]

By Tania Hussain

For the avid TV watcher, it seems like every other week someone you know is raving about a popular streaming series you just have to marathon — and we can't blame them. Of all the streaming services, Netflix is the place to be when you are looking for original, quality programming.

BGR reported last year that by the time 2017 ends, Netflix alone would have introduced more than 1,000 hours of original programming. But while that's great for viewers lounging on their couch, sometimes trying to figure out what to watch next can be hard to figure out.

During the last week of August to the start of September, Statista gaged Netflix's streaming stats, discovering five of the most watched original series on the beloved streaming service. Not only did these five series generate the most buzz in the past week, but they've proved their worth as fan favorites.

And thankfully, plenty of which are returning for another season, including Stranger Things set to release its second season this October.

To help you figure out what to watch in this week ahead, we look at five of the most popular original streaming series on Netflix that measures total audience demand being expressed for titles. As measured by Statista, audience demand reflects desire, engagement and consumption of content, weighted by the importance, meaning a stream is a higher expression of demand than a "like" or comment.

#5: Disjointed

Average demand expressions: 9,107,482

Disjointed might not be the best series according to critics, but it is one that audiences are very much loving as it averages nearly 10 million streams. From acclaimed TV writer and producer, Chuck Lorre best known for Two and a Half Men, the series full of easy gags and social commentary follows cannabis legend Ruth Whitefeather Feldman (Kathy Bates) as she employs her newly graduated son and a team of young "budtenders" to help run her Los Angeles marijuana dispensary.

Though it is unsure if the series will return for a second season, it has been broken up into two parts with 20 episodes ordered by Netflix. There are currently 10 episodes available to stream.

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#4: The Defenders

Average demand expressions: 11,207,674

Making its debut last month, The Defenders brings four of Netflix's biggest Marvel heroes saving New York City and audiences love every minute of it. Despite well-known characters like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, the series has received lukewarm reviews from fans, yet clearly packs more than enough of a punch to balance its flaws.

Though Netflix hasn't confirmed the second season just yet, fans of the series need not worry since the four are still a successful package for viewers interested in the Marvel Universe. Each of the heroes' series are currently filming for their next respective season, with many speculating that The Punisher will also make his debut with The Defenders, as his show arrives soon.

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#3: Narcos

Average demand expressions: 12,322,962

Debuting its third season this week, Narcos made it in the third spot of most popular streams this during the period of Aug. 27 to Sept. 2 for good reason. The acclaimed series following a chronicled look at the criminal exploits of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, dove into the Cali Cartel this year, making for some intense drama.

In 2015, The Independent claimed the Netflix original series was actually more popular in the world than Game of Thrones, thanks to its international appeal with the series featuring more than 80 percent of its dialogue in Spanish. Produced by a French company, shot in Colombia with Brazilian actors and hugely popular in Germany, it's a series that has flavors of what makes global television so remarkable.

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#2: Stranger Things

Average demand expressions: 12,879,952

What's not to love about this Netflix original? Stranger Things was one of the most fun and inspired surprises on TV that premiered last fall and we're just aching for season two now. With a talented cast, stellar writing and spectacular soundtrack, this is a show you will want to watch repeatedly — and that might be the reason its demand expressions have been so high lately.

The show is set to return this Halloween and the hype for the sophomore season has been excelling with its marketing campaign. Since its plot pays homage to 1980s horror cinema, it's no secret the award-winning series would play to its strengths with a stellar set of posters replicating some of horror's finest, like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Firestarter and Alien, just to name a few.

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#1: Ozark

Average demand expressions: 14,754,472

Ozark is one of the best new series you need to be binge-watching and that acclaim via its audiences on social media has definitely caught on with it leading the pack of Netflix streams for the week of Aug. 27 to Sept. 2.

The show, which debuted this past July has a bit of everything for audiences. Dark comedy, drama and enough suspense to keep you at the edge of your seat. Not to mention, it has a superb cast. Playing the role of family man, Marty Byrde, Jason Bateman's character finds himself as a financial advisor whose side projects involve laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. But when his colleague gets busted for skimming money, Marty makes a deal that he can launder enough cash in hopes the cartel spare his life, and that of his wife, Wendy (Laura Linney) and two kids as they flee to the Ozarks.

The show was picked up for a second season, which means fans will be eagerly awaiting the next steps of this family breaking bad.

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