KPOP Demon Hunters and The Waterfront – Pictures: Netflix
Welcome back to another top 10 report where we look deeper into the weekly top 10 numbers that Netflix releases and figure out whether shows and movies are underperforming, overperforming, or somewhere in the middle. This week, we’ll take a look at debuts for KPOP Demon Hunters, season 1 of The Waterfront, as well as check-ins with two renewals we just got yesterday, plus how well Ginny & Georgia season 3 is performing, too.
Note: In this report of Netflix’s hours viewed from June 16th, 2025 to June 22nd, 2025, we’ll use “Complete Viewings Equivalent,” or CVE, expressed in millions. That means we divide the hours viewed announced by Netflix by the runtime of films or series. It allows for better comparisons between films and series, but it’s not an audience metric. It is the minimum number of viewings if they were all complete from the first second to the last of the film or season.
1. KPop Demon Hunters
How big is K-pop globally? It is hard to tell, and if you’d asked me how big the launch of the new animated Sony/Netflix movie KPop Demon Hunters would be, I would have said “very big”. There was considerable circumstantial evidence to support this, with the film’s songs appearing in various music streaming charts and the film performing very well in the daily Top 10 worldwide. But the numbers are in, and its launch is just average, with 9.2M CVEs in its first 3 days — only slightly better than Spellbound, one of 2024’s flops. It’s also well below the previous Sony/Netflix animated film, Vivo.
However, there are reasons to be hopeful for the coming weeks, as the audience reception of the film has been very positive, and animated films generally tend to have better legs over time.
2. Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem
We’re going to have a fun little summer competition to follow in the charts over the coming weeks: the performance of the Trainwreck series of documentaries. Last week’s entry, Mayor of Mayhem, is already doing better than The Astroworld Tragedy with 6.4M CVEs over its first 6 days.
This being said, we already know which one is going to win in the end: the one that dropped yesterday, titled Poop Cruise (yes, the poop cruise — quite the program). My wildest dream is to have Trainwreck: Poop Cruise crash the all-time Top 10; let’s hope the internet does its thing.
3. Semi-Soeter is a full hit (for South Africa)
The South African film Semi-Soeter, in the Afrikaans language, is a sequel to a successful local hit. With 3.6M CVEs in its first 3 days, it marks the best launch ever for a South African non-English-language film.
4. Netflix renews Ransom Canyon and Bet.
Yesterday, Netflix also renewed two new 2025 US series: Bet and Ransom Canyon. At first glance, both renewals seem quite generous, especially Bet, which I had predicted would be outright canceled based on its launch. After 18 days, its numbers haven’t really improved, and several factors beyond viewership may explain the renewal: a presumably low budget, a strong completion rate, the fact that it was likely commissioned for two seasons from the start, Netflix feeling charitable or one exec at Netflix daring another one to renew it in the most twisted game of dares possible.
For Ransom Canyon, the renewal is a bit more logical, though the series was still treading in somewhat uncertain waters. As for the new U.S. Netflix series from 2025, only The Residence and Pulse have yet to receive an official decision. All the others have been renewed. 6 out of 8, not bad!
5. The Waterfront
Will The Waterfront be renewed for a second season? Based on today’s renewals news, which, quite frankly, lowered the threshold for renewals and the series’ first 4-day launch, it’s certainly off to a good start, with a strong debut of 8.3M CVEs that puts it in a favorable position. Now it’s up to the show to stay there in the coming weeks!
6. Olympo
Olympo aimed to be the new Elite coming out of Spain, but at launch, it’s struggling to live up to its illustrious predecessor in its earlier seasons, with just 3.2 million CVEs in its first three days. That might be enough for a cautious renewal for a second season, but it’s not out of the woods yet.
7. Ginny & Georgia Viewership Watch
Season 3 of Ginny & Georgia continues its strong run, and after 14 days, the drop in viewership compared to Season 2 remains minimal. In fact, in that interval, Season 3 has already surpassed the 28-day viewership total of Season 1.
8. America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
The documentary series about the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders returned for a second season, and it’s off to a very strong start — outperforming its first season with 3.3M CVEs over its first 5 days.
9. The Great Indian Kapil Show
Over in India, the weekly live show The Great Indian Kapil Show is making a strong comeback for its third season, with viewership up compared to the previous season’s launch.
That’s all for this week. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below.