a mystery indeed

Netflix Claims New Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston Movie Drew Record Views

Did more than 30 million accounts actually watch the comedy Murder Mystery? Netflix says yes.
jennifer aniston adam sandley
Courtesy of Scott Yamano/Netflix.

Netflix is once again raising eyebrows with claims about its viewership data. This time around the streamer has announced record views for Murder Mystery—the latest Adam Sandler comedy, costarring Jennifer Aniston. On Tuesday the streamer announced—via its comedy Twitter account, Netflix Is a Joke—that over 30 million accounts globally had watched the film in its first three days streaming, giving it the biggest opening weekend for a Netflix original film.

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“30,869,863 accounts watched Murder Mystery in its first 3 days,” the tweet read. “The biggest opening weekend ever for a Netflix Film. 13,374,914 accounts in the US and Canada, and 17,494,949 more worldwide.”

This is seemingly the first time Netflix has given such specific numbers in regards to viewing data about an original film. The streamer is notoriously mum when it comes to giving ratings and viewership data, instead selectively releasing flattering, strategic numbers about a handful of projects. Since signing a multipicture deal with Sandler in 2014, Netflix has claimed that the comedian’s work is among its most popular offerings. In 2017 Netflix head Ted Sarandos claimed that users have spent nearly half a billion hours watching the comedian’s movies on the platform; given that, it makes sense that Murder Mystery would be a popular viewing option upon its release.

However there are some who don’t believe Murder Mystery is as popular as Netflix claims. The figure has raised skepticism on social media, particularly from those who broke down the math behind the numbers and found that, if the data was correct, the movie earned more views than some of the most buzzed-about projects of the year, such as the Game of Thrones finale.

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Netflix has released somewhat similar stats in the past, most recently claiming that Bird Box, the horror movie starring Sandra Bullock, was watched by millions of viewers, and was “seeing high repeat viewing.” In addition the streamer said the show You, which it acquired from Lifetime, was on track to be watched by 40 million members in its first month. You just have to take their word for it.

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