7 TV Takeaways From Netflix’s Data Dump: ‘Squid Game’ Keeps Dominating, WWE Partnership Pays Off

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Netflix‘s bi-annual engagement report provided the massive viewership figures we expected from juggernauts like “Adolescence” and “Squid Game,” but a closer look at the numbers shows just how powerful the South Korean franchise is for Netflix, as well as how valuable the streamer’s recent partnership with WWE has proven to be.

Beyond laying out the success of “Squid Game” and WWE’s Monday Night Raw, the report, which captures viewership for the first half of 2025, gave insight on massive audience for kids show “Ms. Rachel,” Korean content and true crime series, while the reality TV genre failed to make it to the top of the list.

The report also revealed cumulative viewership for canceled series like “The Residence,” “Pulse” and “The Recruit,” which sometimes performed better than shows that did score a renewal orders from Netflix.

See our seven biggest TV takeaways from Netflix’s data dump below.

“Squid Game” thrives

Given how “Squid Game” Season 2 became the most-watched TV show during the backhalf of 2024 with under a week of data, it’s no surprise that residual viewership from Season 2 and the recent debut of Season 3 translated into massive gains for the streamer, but it’s still pretty striking.

After debuting in late December 2024, “Squid Game” Season 2 was the No. 2 most-watched TV show on Netflix from January through June 2025 with 117.3 million views, landing behind only the hit limited series “Adolescence.” Season 3 ranked as No. 3, tallying up 71.5 million views in just four days between its June 27 release and June 30.

The backhalf of 2025 will likely see a good deal of residual viewership like Season 2 did for this interval, though it’ll be interesting to see how the show ranks beyond that, given that Season 3 marked the end of the series.

More Korean TV is popping off

While the last two seasons of “Squid Game” dominated the report, regardless of language — and Season 1 ranked as the No. 12 most-watched show — the series wasn’t the only Korean show that made it to the top section of the list. “When Life Gives You Tangerines” and “The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call” ranked in the No. 19 and No. 20 slots on the list with 34.8 million and 34.1 million views, respectively, while the first two installments of “Weak Hero” scored 22.3 million and 19.6 million views and “Mercy For None” scored 16.9 million views, ranking above the first seasons of Netflix hits “You” and “XO, Kitty.”

“Ms. Rachel” ranks way higher than other kids content

While kids content typically ranks high on Netflix’s engagement reports, YouTube creator “Ms. Rachel” took the cake for the most-watched kids content this time, with the show ranking as the No. 7 most-watched show on Netflix during the first half of 2025 with 53.4 million views.

Viewership for “Ms. Rachel,” which was added to Netflix’s library in January, not only surpasses kids shows like “Gabby’s Dollhouse,” which scored 15.3 million views, or “Peppa Pig,” whose fifth season scored 14.2 million views, but also outpaces that of Netflix hits “Sirens,” “The Night Agent” Season 2, “Ginny & Georgia” Season 3 and “American Primeval.” The placement is more even more impressive considering only four episodes of “Ms. Rachel” are available on the platform.

Some axed shows weren’t viewership bombs

While the top 20 list was populated with renewed series like “The Night Agent,” “Ginny & Georgia,” “Running Point,” “The Four Seasons” and “XO, Kitty,” several canceled shows weren’t that much further down the list. “The Residence,” which scored 33.3 million views, was higher on the list than renewed show “Ransom Canyon,” which scored 29 million views. Likewise, canceled shows “Pulse” scored 26.2 million views and “The Recruit” scored 24.1 million views and 19.1 million views for its first two seasons, respectively — all ranking above renewed show “Forever,” which brought in 19.1 million views.

WWE Monday Night Raw is a success

Ever since Netflix began streaming WWE’s Monday Night Raw at the start of 2025, the weekly event has consistently made it into the streamer’s top 10 English-language shows list, typically towards the bottom. But, when adding up each installment of WWE Raw — which totals to 88.6 million views across the first six months of 2025 — the partnership proves to be even more successful for Netflix, viewership-wise, than residual viewership from the “Squid Game” Season 2 debut, which scored 71.5 million views, or limited series “Zero Day,” which brought in 61.3 million views.

Viewership for WWE Raw averages out to 14.8 million views per month.

True crime and docuseries prevail

The No. 6 most-watched TV show of the first half of 2025 was true crime title “American Murder: Gabby Petito,” which racked up 56.1 million views, also outpacing “Sirens,” “The Night Agent” Season 2 and “Ginny & Georgia” Season 3. “American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden” followed shortly after with 36.6 million views, as did “Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer,” which brought in 21.9 million views. “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” scored 17.9 million views while “American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson” and “Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders” brought in 16.8 million views each.

Reality isn’t thriving

While WWE Raw and docuseries made a solid showing atop the list, reality shows weren’t as present. “Love Is Blind” Season 8 ranked as the top reality show of the six months with 13.4 million views, well behind the first seasons of “You” and “XO, Kitty” as well as “Peppa Pig.” “Love on the Spectrum” Season 3 followed behind “Love Is Blind” with 12.9 million views, while “Million Dollar Secret” Season 1 scored 11.1 million views.

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