Netflix's 'Wednesday' series breaks viewership records in streaming debut

Yahoo Finance entertainment reporter Allie Canal details the success of Netflix's new series 'Wednesday,' which dethroned 'Stranger Things 4' for total hours viewed in its first week.

Video transcript

DAVE BRIGGS: All right, let's stay in streaming and talk Netflix. "Stranger Things 4" has been dominant, but a show that I actually hadn't heard of-- and it's called "Wednesday," right?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yes.

DAVE BRIGGS: A significant accomplishment. What did it do, and what's the show about?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And I thought Wednesday would do well. This is a remake of "The Addams Family," starring Jenna Ortega. She is an up and coming rising star. And people that I've spoken with-- I haven't gotten the chance to watch this yet, but people have that I've talked to have really enjoyed it. Tim Burton is directing it. So you got some star power there. And it now holds the record for the most hours viewed for an English-speaking show, securing 341.2 million hours viewed in its first week, compared to "Stranger Things," 335 million. That was the previous record holder, so a huge beat there.

Of course, it still lags "Squid Game" that has the all-time record. I think it's going to be very hard for any original show to beat that. Squid Game hit 571.8 million hours viewed in its peak week. But overall, I think "Wednesday" is a big nod to nostalgia. And it's a good thing for Netflix because a lot of the analysts on Wall Street have been debating whether or not Netflix was able to create another "Stranger Thing" success story. Could their content match up with some of the other competitors out there? But their original programming has been doing really well.

DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, they need one more from Shonda Rhimes maybe to--

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Mm-hmm, yes. Ryan Murphy held up his end of the bargain. So now maybe Shonda.

DAVE BRIGGS: Ryan Murphy is doing OK. All right, Allie Canal, thank you so much. Appreciate that.