"How Are They Doing?": The Waterfront and Call Her Alex.
Also, a Fubar S2 confirmation
The Waterfront on Netflix
I will provide my POV on this new drama from Kevin Williamson on Saturday in the next edition of “Previously On” but for now here is a look at how it’s doing. We have two data source to examine - Netflix’s global data for its launch weekend, aka Thu-Sun, and Luminate’s domestic data for the first seven days of viewing. So far, the show is performing much better in the U.S. than internationally.
After the first weekend of global viewing on Netflix the show is not a breakout with 8.3M viewers, ranking just inside the top 20 (#17) compared to the launch weekend for other English-language series globally this year as illustrated in the chart below.
Netflix Top English-Language Series 2025TD, Launch Week, Global Average Audience
Source: Netflix
Looking at viewing in the U.S. only, The Waterfront has averaged 5.8M viewers after seven days of viewing which makes it #7 YTD. Perhaps not a mammoth hit but a relatively strong opening and a “success”. [Data note - do not compare the actual numbers between the services - they are from different methodologies - the key point is where the show ranks within each set of numbers].
Source: Luminate (U.S. Viewing)
Why is The Waterfront ranking higher in the U.S. than elsewhere? The nature of the show’s cast, with recognizable but not known-by-name actors, its setting, the lack of IP which makes it unknown to international viewers, and the genre are potential reasons why it is succeeding domestically only.
I think what we are seeing here is the opposite of Adolescence - which did much better overseas than in the U.S. because it was too British/European for stateside viewers. The Waterfront may be too American for international audiences. I don’t think I would have predicted that ahead of time given the success of plenty of American-feeling shows worldwide but that is my best guess. If you have other ideas please let me know in the comments.
Fubar S2 Follow-Up
You might notice in the Luminate chart above that Fubar S2, which I reported on previously as being a disaster in the Netflix global data, is the lowest-ranking title in the domestic data. This is the same story that the Netflix data is telling as is the fact that after two weeks S2 is down -77% from S1 stateside.
Call Her Alex on Hulu
While Alex Cooper is one of the biggest stars in the podcast world her audience does not seem very interested in searching out this two-part documentary about her life and career.
After ten days of usage per Luminate it has averaged only 800,000 viewers which it puts it well under other most Hulu originals this year with the exception of Vanderpump Villa S2 and Nine Perfect Strangers S2.
Over the last decade TV viewing data has consistently shown that success in podcasting and social media often does not translate to success in traditional television and at this point it is fair to say that Hulu / streaming is traditional television (Hulu launched in 2008).
