‘Seinfeld’ Makes Modest Start on Netflix’s Top 10 Lists

Netflix’s big new content license Seinfeld joined Netflix on October 1st and has made a modest impact on the Netflix top 10s worldwide. Below, we’ll analyze some of the early data out of the top 10s and a couple of other sources to see how well Seinfeld is doing on Netflix.

Netflix acquired the global streaming rights for Seinfeld in 2019 and provides some context. It was reported that they bought it for $500 million+. That’s substantially more than Hulu paid ($130 million for six years) but not the global rights as Hulu only operates in the US.

It had been previously available on Hulu US where it was believed to only have received a small percentage of viewers. The series was removed from Hulu in the summer, before being dropped on Netflix worldwide on October 1.

Now, nearly a week later, what is Seinfeld's performance on Netflix?

The answer is it’s performing the strongest in the United States. It debuted at number 4 in the television charts on its first day but it has since fallen to number 6, almost one week later.

The show is also notably performing well in Croatia, Canada (where it’s now ahead of its position in the US as of the time of publishing), and Iceland. It’s yet to feature in the top 10s in the United Kingdom.

Seinfeld, just ahead of Love 101, was 13th most popular TV show on Netflix as of October 6. The show ranked eighth in the world's most watched series, with the highest ratings on the 2nd and 3rd of October.

Seinfeld: Other metrics on Netflix

Outside of Netflix’s own top 10 data, we can look at some other indicators as to whether the show is seeing a revival or not. Google Trends suggests search activity is the highest it’s been for the past 12 months but data is still incomplete to get an accurate picture of how it compares over the past 5 years.

Google search trends for Seinfeld in 2021

IMDb’s Moviemeter suggests the show is climbing in popularity. The show rose to #115 for the week that ended on October 3rd and began September 5. That’s gaining in on the #95 position it picked up between April 19th, 2020 and May 17th, 2020. But it’s worth noting that the October 3rd number means that Netflix had only had the title for three days up until that point.

Seinfeld is Seinfeld good enough to compensate for Friends and The Office's loss?

The big question in the US is whether Seinfeld's addition is sufficient to take over Friends and The Office. It’s too early to tell, but you probably have to look at Seinfeld as being a long-term play for Netflix and it being a consistent show that lingers (just like The Office did for 189 days after the introduction of the top 10 feature) rather than dominating all the time.

The Office – Picture: NBCUniversal

It takes time to make the title something that you will watch again and again, especially when it is introduced to new audiences. Whether it’s the type of show will ultimately come down to personal taste.

However, outside the United States, Netflix is currently in what we’re dubbing as the golden age of sitcoms. Netflix subscribers have unlimited access to Friends and The Office. Netflix also lost Netflix's US version of The Office.

Do you watch Seinfeld every day on Netflix? Comment below.