Netflix Film Bird Box Viewed by 45 Million Accounts - How Does That Compare to Top Grossing Aquaman?

Netflix announced that over 45 million accounts have watched Bird Box. The film starring Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, and Sarah Paulson is the best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film. The thriller follows a mother (Sandra Bullock) and her two children in their desperate bid to reach safety.

A Netflix spokesperson shared with The Verge, that an account is considered a viewer “once a view surpasses 70 percent of total running time including credits.” This is very different than YouTube that considers a view when a user has watched for around 30 seconds.

So while it’s difficult to compare to traditional movie sales, the current top movie at the box office, Aquaman, grossed $137 million in its first week and sold close to 15 million tickets. The top TV broadcast last week, Sunday Night Football saw 7 million viewers on a single night.

It’s clear that viewership was massive and that Netflix has the opportunity to drive viewers to films that wouldn’t be traditional blockbuster movies. Given that Netflix self-reports its view metrics and has been tight lipped about them in the past, it will be interesting to compare this to future films on the service going forward.