Netflix revealed the viewing figures for 'You' and 'Sex Education' but people don't believe them

18 January 2019, 12:05 | Updated: 2 January 2020, 17:15

Jazmin Duribe

By Jazmin Duribe

Who knew sex-obsessed teens and psychotic stalkers would be so popular?

If you have a Netflix account you're probably hooked on 'You' or 'Sex Education' right now. And if you're not, trust us, you will be. Everyone from Milly Bobby Brown to your neighbour's cousin's friend's dog is watching it, and now the truly staggering viewing results are in.

Netflix has just revealed its quarterly earnings and, of course, the global streaming service has decided to slip in some of their recent successes. You is on track to be watched by 40 million viewers – and no, that's not even an exaggeration – in just four weeks, after it was released on December 26. Oh, so that's why the prices are going up...

Yep, 40 million people have a thing for crazed killers, apparently. It's no surprise that You season 2 is already in the works. The astronomical figure compares to Netflix's other big hitter 'Bird Box', which pulled in a huge 45 million subscribers (and a ridiculous amount of Bird Box memes) within the first week, making it the biggest first week for a Netflix original movie ever.

Penn Badgley in 'You' and Asa Butterfield in 'Sex Education'.
Netflix just revealed how many people watched 'You' but no one believes it. Picture: Netflix

However, people have their doubts over the latest figures. According to The Hollywood Reporter, You previously averaged just 611,000 when it originally aired on Lifetime last year.

It's also worth adding that Netflix – who don't usually provide figures – has its own way of calculating viewing figures and it doesn't necessarily aline with traditional measuring services like Nielsen ratings in the US or the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARD) in the UK.

People are a little sceptical and want Netflix to drop the streaming data and be more specific by what they mean by "viewed".

According to Netflix, Sex Education is also on track to be watched by 40 million subscribers in its first four weeks after dropping on January 11. A second season of Sex Education hasn't actually been confirmed, but with 40 million people tuning in, we can't possibly imagine why Netflix would want to just stop at one season.