The one from Netflix Avatar: The last airbender has blown away the competition and become the streaming giant’s latest TV hit.
Despite the mixed reception ahead of its February 22 release, Netflix’s live-action remake of the beloved animated series has defied the critics and positioned itself as the streamer’s most-watched show of the week.
Per Netflix’s Top 10 website, Avatar: The last airbender attracted 21.2 million viewers in its first four days on the platform, racking up 154.3 million hours streamed. These figures were three times those of its closest rival – One daya romantic drama that originally launched on February 14 and racked up 7.5 million views and 50.3 million hours watched in comparison.
Perhaps even more surprising is how popular it is Avatar: The last airbender was when the ratings were added up against that of A pieceanother iconic anime that Netflix turned into a live-action series in mid-2023.
During its first four days on one of the best streaming services in the world, A piece season 1 was viewed 15.8 million times, while Netflix’s global audience streamed 140.1 million hours in that time. By that measure Avatar is a bigger hit than its contemporary, which is especially fascinating when you consider that A piece received critical acclaim (and was subsequently included in our best Netflix shows guide) when it arrived last August.
AvatarThe game’s cast and crew can therefore take immense satisfaction from its popularity, especially in light of the lackluster reviews leading up to its release. In our review of Netflix Avatar: The last airbender, we called it a “brave but frustrating remake that blows hot and cold.” With its mixed 60%, the critics score on it Rotten tomatoesWe weren’t the only ones impressed by the likely first season of the live-action reboot, and if, like us, you weren’t impressed with Netflix’s version, you might want to check out one of these five thrilling fantasy -watching shows instead of the unfulfilling Avatar remake.
Bending the rules
Successful Netflix’s Avatar: The last airbender seems to have been, it’s worth remembering that the streamer’s viewership numbers aren’t as transparent as they initially seem.
Netflix determines each ‘view’ based on the number of hours streamed divided by the total running time of a program or film. In The last airbenderIn this case, the eight episodes of the first season cumulatively last just over seven hours. Divide that number by the total hours viewed AvatarIn our case, that figure is the aforementioned 153.4 million – and you get over 21 million views.
What’s the problem? There will be viewers who didn’t watch the entire season for a myriad of reasons, including those who turned it off out of boredom, or subscribers who were late to the party and only streamed the first few episodes before Netflix publicly released its latest weekly release. ratings. This skews the statistics in Netflix’s favor, with each “view” added to the total regardless of whether someone has completed the season of a series or not.
Avatar: The last airbender It may have been “viewed” 21.2 million times, but that doesn’t mean 21.2 million people watched it from start to finish. Knowing how many people completed the first season would give us a better picture, but releasing such data wouldn’t be in Netflix’s best interest, especially if the total number of people who watched it from start to finish wasn’t that high as the number of viewers. -based statistics. Without the full data set, it’s impossible to say how successful Netflix’s adaptation was, and whether it’s popular and cost-effective enough to warrant a second season.