Some of the top non-English shows on Netflix rank among the most-watched titles on the platform in the first half of 2023. The American subscription streaming service published the first of its bi-yearly report titled What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report on December 12, 2023. Covering 99% of all viewing from January to June 2023, the report detailed what viewers streamed, revealing that non-English stories make up 30% of all viewing within the timeframe reviewed.
Aimed at helping creators understand what resonates with viewers, the Netflix engagement report, which evaluated over 18,000 titles, found that subscribers spent nearly 100 billion hours watching films and television shows on the streaming service. The most-watched movies include The Mother, Luther: The Fallen Sun, and Extraction 2. With more time spent watching television shows than films, the most-watched English-language series include The Night Agent, Ginny & Georgia, Wednesday, You, and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. These are the top non-English shows on Netflix in the first half of 2023.
1. The Glory
The South Korean web series is the top non-English show on the streaming platform. Written by Kim Eun-sook and directed by Ahn Gil-ho, the psychological thriller follows Song Hye-kyo’s Moon Dong-eun, who devised an elaborate plan to get revenge against the bullies who tormented her in high school. Also starring Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon, Harrison Xu, Aria Song, and Park Sung-hoon, the series was released in two parts, first on December 30, 2022, and then on March 10, 2023. The Glory amassed 622.8 million watch hours within the first six months of 2023 to become one of the most-watched shows on Netflix.
2. La Reina del Sur
The Spanish-language series based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel of the same title isn’t globally available, yet it managed 616.8 million watch hours. This leaves it right behind The Glory as one of the top non-English shows on Netflix and, indeed, one of the most-watched shows on the streaming service in the first half of 2023. The action-crime drama premiered on February 28, 2011, and arrived on Netflix on September 5, 2011. With La Reina Del Sur’s season 3 release on Netflix in December 2022, the telenovela starring Kate del Castillo alongside Humberto Zurita and Alejandro Calva pulled new viewers, with the new season garnering 429.6 million watch hours between January and June 2023.
3. Physical: 100
The South Korean survival show created by Jang Ho-gi premiered on January 24, 2023. By June 2023, it had accumulated 235 million watch hours to become one of the top non-English shows on Netflix. The show’s premise is quite clear-cut: it follows 100 contestants in perfect physical body shapes as they compete in various challenging physical and fitness activities. Participants are eliminated with each quest until a winner emerges to claim the ₩300 million prize money. Released to positive reviews, Physical: 100 has a 7.7/10 IMDb rating and a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 80%. Often compared to Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game, the reality competition series won at least three Asian Academy Creative Awards, including Best Non-Scripted Entertainment.
4. Crash Course in Romance
The South Korean romance dramedy created by Hee-Seung Yang and Yu Je-won premiered on TVN and immediately became one of the highest-rated dramas of all time on Korean television. Starring Jeon Do-yeon alongside Jung Kyung-ho and Lee Bong-ryun, Crash Course in Romance was globally released on Netflix on January 14, 2023. By the end of June 2023, it had aggregated 234.8 million watch hours to take its place among the top non-English shows on Netflix.
The series revolves around Jeon Do-yeon’s Nam Haeng-seon, a former national handball player who gave up her career to care for her family after her mother’s death. She takes up running a grocery store frequented by Jung Kyung-ho’s Choi Chi-yeol, a celebrity instructor with an eating disorder. As Choi Chi-yeol and Nam Haeng-seon’s relationship morphed into a romance, she’s compelled to contend with the celebrity instructor’s eating disorder as well.
5. Fake Profile
With 206.5 million watch hours from May to June 2023, the Colombian romance thriller created by Pablo Illanes ranks among the top non-English shows on Netflix in the first half of 2023. Fake Profile stars Carolina Miranda and Rodolfo Salas alongside Manuela González and Lincoln Palomeque. It tells the story of a young woman who creates a sexy profile on a dating app searching for a romantic partner.
She meets the man of her dreams but soon finds herself trapped in a grand deception. The series premiered on May 31, 2023, but is only available for streaming in selected regions. Given the positive reception of the first season, Netflix greenlit the series for a second season in June 2023. Late 2024 is the earliest possible release date for Fake Profile season 2.
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