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Netflix released its semi-annual data dump on Thursday, and “Adolescence” and “Squid Game” emerged as the most-watched TV shows during the first half of 2025.
U.K. crime drama “Adolescence,” which debuted in March to massive viewership, was the most-watched TV show, regardless of language, from January through June 2025 with a whopping 144.8 million views, per Netflix.
“Squid Game” Season 2, which debuted in late December 2024 came behind “Adolescence” with 117.3 million views, adding to the 86.5 million views the season garnered between its Dec. 26 release and Dec. 31. Season 3, however, scored a similarly striking viewership as Season 2’s initial release as it tallied up 71.5 million views in just four days between its June 27 release and June 30, making “Squid Game” Season 3 the No. 3 most-watched TV show of the first half of 2025.
The recent debuts of “Squid Game” Seasons 2 and 3 also pushed Season 1, which premiered back in 2021, into the No. 12 spot with 42 million views.
Notably, viewership for “Adolescence” and “Squid Game” Season 2 were much higher than viewership for the top two shows during the second half of 2024 — “Squid Game” Season 2 and “The Perfect Couple” — neither of which cracked 100 million views. During the first six months of 2025, TV viewing on Netflix tallied up over 95 billion hours.
“Zero Day” and “Missing You” came after “Squid Game” Season 3 as the No. 4 and No. 5 most-watched shows during the first half of 2025 with 61.3 million and 58 million views, respectively, with “American Murder: Gabby Petito” coming in a close sixth place with 56.1 million views. Kids show “Ms. Rachel,” which landed on Netflix on January 27, took the No. 7 slot with 53.4 million views.
“Sirens” and “The Night Agent” scored 53.3 and 53.2 million views, respectively, while “Ginny & Georgia” Season 3 garnered 48.1 million views and “American Primeval” scored 46.5 million views. “Running Point” scored 41.3 million views and “The Four Seasons” came next with 39.4 million views.
On the film front, “Back in Action” was the most-watched movie of the first half of 2025 with 164.7 million views, with “Straw” coming in second place with 102.9 million views. “The Life List” came next with 95.5 million views, and was followed by “Exterritorial” and “Havoc,” which scored 87.5 million views and 86.9 million views, respectively.
