Exotic hit tops the Netflix ratings
Tiger, tiger, burning bright — well it did for Netflix.
The streaming giant says its lockdown favourite Tiger King was the most popular docuseries this year in New Zealand.
The series, which showed the plight of zoo owner and convicted criminal Joe Exotic spawned memes, Halloween costumes and a worldwide obsession.
The top film was Social Dilemma. Directed by Jeff Orlowski, the production lifted the lid on the rise of social media and its impacts on our wellbeing, data and mental health.
Christmas comedy Holidate starring Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey was the most popular comedy movie, and Emily in Paris, starring Lily Collins, the most popular comedy series.
The drama category showed Kiwis loved titles with strong female leads, one of the trends Netflix pointed to when analysing viewers’ habits.
Enola Holmes starring Millie Bobby Brown was the most popular drama film, and The Queen’s Gambit about a prodigy chess player was the most popular series.
Reality shows drew strong audiences, with dating series Too Hot To Handle at the top of the pile. It featured 15 contestants who battled for $100,000, but the catch was they had to abstain from all physical and sexual contact to keep them in the running for the prize.
The competition featured New Zealander Harry Jowsey, who won TVNZ’s Heartbreak Island.
For suspense, Kiwis turned to the Mark Wahlberg action movie Spenser Confidential, which Netflix named the most popular film in the genre. On the TV side, Ozark was the thriller favourite. The show has four seasons out now and stars Jason Bateman.
Silly season titles The Princess Switch: Switched Again and Dash & Lily took out the top spots for Christmas viewing.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run was the most popular kids’ movie for Kiwis, and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous was the mostwatched show.
In the supernatural horror category, Ghosts of War was the top pick for a scare, and chilling series Haunting of Bly Manor was the most popular spooky TV title.
Extraction, starring Chris Hemsworth, was the most popular action movie of the year. TV series
Umbrella Academy about a family of superheroes starring Elliot Page was the action TV favourite.
“Kiwis also enjoyed discovering great stories from other parts of the world, as non-English content saw a more than 60 per cent increase in New Zealand compared to 2019,” Netflix said.
It says anime content was popular this year, possibly thanks to 21 Studio Ghibli classics being added to the platform. “In 2020, the love for anime got stronger. In nearly all Netflix countries around the world, there was a jump in viewing of anime in 2020 compared to 2019: In New Zealand, view hours of anime titles more than doubled.” The other big movers this year were shows from Korea.