Netflix released a record 1,024 TV episodes across 159 shows in Q3 2022

Netflix has taken cutting-edge television to a new high.

In a data point that’s sure to fuel more debates about quantity versus quality, Netflix broke its own record for the number of original episodes released in a single quarter — with 1,026 in the third quarter of 2022, according to a tally by the Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson.

That’s more than five times any other streaming rival: Amazon Prime Video and Hulu released 223 and 194 episodes, respectively, and Disney+ released 140 original episodes, according to the report. HBO Max, now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, released 114 episodes in Q3 – significantly fewer episodes than usual and including the lightest slate for the service since Q2 2020, the second quarter after launch. WBD has been trimming HBO Max’s content slate in recent months in an effort to cut costs.

In total, Netflix premiered 159 original and exclusive shows in Q3, surpassing its previous record of 143 in Q4 2021 (which totaled nearly 900 episodes). Major TV titles released by Netflix in the last quarter include Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” starring Evan Peters, which in its first three weeks became the second most-watched English TV show on Netflix (after “Stranger Things 4”).

Other trending releases were Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman”, “Cobra Kai” Season 5, “Locke & Key” Season 3, and the docu-series “How to Build a Sex Room”. Additionally, Netflix dropped the final two episodes of “Stranger Things 4” on July 1 — an offer to lure the show’s fans into its third-quarter subscriber numbers.

Netflix’s surge in the third quarter came after a production slowdown related to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And the bump comes as the US streaming market has plateaued at 81% of US households, according to data from a HarrisX survey commissioned by MoffettNathanson.

“Streaming’s penetration into American homes has matured, as have nearly all individual services
except for new entrants from Peacock and Paramount+,” the company wrote in its Q3 SVOD Tracker report. “Streaming services are no longer competing to add new customers to streaming, but rather to add (and retain) customers already in the streaming ecosystem.”

Netflix has adopted a “something for everyone” strategy, as Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos has put it – though that doesn’t mean everyone will be a fan. everything on the performance. (Indeed, watching more than 1,000 episodes in a 90-day period would be nigh on impossible.) According to the streamer, customers watch an average of six different genres each month, ranging from drama to horror and comedy to kids.

So Netflix, delivering five times more gross TV tonnage than its closest competitors, seeks to cover the waterfront with things that appeal to a variety of tastes. But, of course, quantity isn’t everything, as the team at MoffettNathanson pointed out: Amid its lower-than-normal volume of originals in Q3, HBO Max released “The House of the Dragon “, the prequel series “Game of Thrones”. which was heavily marketed and was a strong audience draw. As of September 20, “HOTD” Season 1 averaged 29 million viewers per episode across all platforms.

In the meantime, note that the episode count does not include licensed second-run shows. For Netflix in Q3, these included The CW’s “Riverdale” Season 6, “The Flash” Season 8, “In the Dark” Season 4, “Dynasty” Season 5, and 4 of “Roswell, New Mexico”. Also in the quarter, Netflix released Season 6 of Moonbug Entertainment’s ever-popular preschool series “CoComelon.”

Netflix’s lineup of original TV shows in Q3 spans scripted, unscripted/reality, children’s and documentary formats, and includes a number of international productions. Some of Netflix’s non-English productions have been big draws, including five Korean shows that debuted in the third quarter like “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, “Alchemy of Souls”, “Little Women”, “Young Lady and Gentleman” and ‘Narco-Saints’ – which have consistently featured in Netflix’s top 10 non-English TV rankings for the past five weeks.

Here is the list of TV shows released by Netflix in Q3 (all are early seasons unless otherwise noted):

July 2022

August 2022

September 2022

Pictured Above: Evan Peters in Netflix’s ‘Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’