Netflix’s ‘Dead to Me’ Has Been Watched by Staggering Amount of People

Netflix claimed the Emmy-nominated Christina Applegate dramedy series Dead to Me was watched by 30 million subscribers during its first month. Netflix, which does not regularly release viewership data, made the claim during its second-quarterly earnings report on Wednesday. Although 30 million sounds like a lot of users, it was less than other recent shows.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the total for Dead to Me was a bit below numbers for previous new shows that Netflix has boasted about. In April, Netflix said The Umbrella Academy drew 45 million viewers in its first month, while Sex Education and You each drew 40 million worldwide views.

Netflix also said 25 million accounts worldwide checked out Ava DuVernay’s miniseries When They See Us, which centers on the Central Park Five. That’s a bit above the 23 million total DuVernay shared on Twitter on June 25.

“Imagine believing the world doesn’t care about real stories of black people,” the Selma filmmaker wrote. “It always made me sad. So when Netflix just shared with me that 23M+ accounts worldwide have watched [When They See Us], I cried. Our stories matter and can move across the globe. A new truth for a new day.”

Our Planet, a new nature documentary series, earned 33 million views. It is the most-watched original documentary program on the platform, beating out Making a Murderer.

As for its original movies, Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery, which reunited him with Jennifer Aniston, earned a whopping 73 million views in only four weeks. The romantic comedy The Perfect Date was also a hit, earning 48 million views. Always Be My Maybe, with Ali Wong and Randall Park, notched 32 million views.

The company’s biggest recent success, Stranger Things, will likely appear on Netflix’s third-quarter report. Netflix claims Stranger Things Season 3 earned 40 million global views in just four days.

Netflix defines a “view” as a member account watching at least 70 percent of a single episode or 70 percent of a movie.

While viewership for these shows and movies was big, Netflix’s second-quarter of 2019, from April to June, was not great. The service only gained 2.7 million subscribers during the period, missing the huge 5.5 million projection. Netflix said the slow subscriber growth mostly happened in regions where the cost of Netflix jumped. The standard Netflix is plan is now $13 for U.S. subscribers.

Dead to Me launched in May and was already renewed for a second season. Applegate earned an Emmy nomination for playing a woman tortured by her husband’s death, and befriends Linda Cardellini‘s character, who has a curious connection to what happened to him.

When They See Us was nominated for 14 Emmys, including Outstanding Limited Series. Jharrel Jerome, Vera Fermiga, Michael Kenneth Williams, John Leguizamo, Niecy Nash, Auhanue Ellis, Asante Blackk and Marsha Stephanie Blake all earned nominations for their performances.

Photo credit: Netflix