Rockstar’s extended gameplay preview of GTA VI racked up 31.1 million views on Netflix in its first four days and became the service’s most popular title for that week. The video was initially a temporary exclusive to the platform, but was later published on other online platforms as well, according to GamesRadar, citing data from Netflix.
Briefly about the main points
- The GTA VI review topped the weekly chart for the entire Netflix catalogue.
- In four days, the video racked up 31.1 million views.
- Rockstar restricted access to Netflix for a few hours.
- The total viewing time for the videos has reached nearly 14 million hours.
- Netflix’s methodology does not allow for a direct comparison with YouTube.
Exclusive premiere on Netflix
Rockstar chose an unusual way to present what was, at the time, the most detailed material on GTA VI: initially, only Netflix subscribers with a paid subscription had access to it for a few hours. Once this period had ended video It has also appeared on other online platforms.
Within the window behind which Netflix It has made it into the weekly top 10, with the video outperforming all other films and series in the service’s library. The platform classified the in-depth game review as a film, so it featured in the overall rankings alongside feature films and documentaries.
Which titles have been left behind?
The film with the next highest number of views was the thriller *The Whisperer*, which premiered on Netflix on 28 August — the day after the in-depth review of GTA VI was published. It racked up 23.2 million views in a week.
The most popular series during the same period was the true-crime documentary *The Death of the Pastor’s Wife*, with 19 million views. However, GTA VI’s performance did not surpass the record-breaking debut week for English-language Netflix titles: the fifth series of *Stranger Things* recorded 59.6 million views.
These figures cover various formats and durations of access. For GTA VI, the published result relates to the four days from its launch until the end of the platform’s reporting period, whilst the record for *Strange Wonders* is based on its launch week.
Why the figure cannot be compared with YouTube’s view count
The extended review lasts around 27 minutes. According to Netflix’s methodology, its 31.1 million views equate to nearly 14 million hours of total viewing time in the first few days following its release.
Netflix calculates the number of views by dividing the total number of viewing hours by the running time of a specific video. On YouTube, a view is recorded as soon as the video starts playing, regardless of whether the viewer watched just a few seconds or the whole video. Because of these differences, the figures from the two platforms are not directly comparable.
