Netflix, giving a rare glimpse at its viewership numbers, revealed that the romantic comedy “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” was “one of its most viewed original films ever with strong repeat viewing.”
The streaming giant rarely releases data about its viewership other than subscriber numbers, but in its third-quarter earnings report Tuesday pointed to social media reactions and a growth in followers as signs of the success of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and other recent titles. Without detailing numbers for individual movies, Netflix said more than 80 million subscriber accounts watched one of its original rom-com movies over the summer, including “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “Set It Up,” and “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser.”
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” featuring an Asian-American heroine, was one of the summer’s landmark movies featuring varied, three-dimensional representations of Asian characters in mainstream pop culture. The success of Hollywood projects like “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Searching” in what has been dubbed Asian August helped demolish the longstanding entertainment industry myth that movies by and about people of color don’t sell.
The popularity of both “Crazy Rich Asians” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” also points to a renewed interest in the romantic comedy genre. Netflix said it has more rom-com projects in production.
This fall, “Crazy Rich Asians” surpassed 2009′s “The Proposal” to become the highest-grossing romantic comedy at the U.S. box office in 10 years.
Netflix also said in its earnings report that it added 6.9 million subscribers in the third quarter and now has more than 137 million subscriber accounts.