The American version of Kvodo (“Your Honor”), an original drama series that first aired in Israel in the spring of 2017, became the most-watched series on various streaming services in the United States in early June, data from the Nielsen rating agency shows.
According to the company, the American adaptation of the Israeli series, starring Emmy winner Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) as an esteemed judge who finds himself in over his head after his son is involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident, garnered 1.528 billion viewing minutes in the week of June 3-9. This represents a massive threefold increase in viewing time after its debut on Netflix the previous week, in addition to the original streaming service where it airs, Paramount+.
The series managed to surpass two other shows that crossed the billion-minute viewing threshold with “Bluey” (1.145 billion minutes) in second place and “Grey’s Anatomy” (1.099 billion minutes) in third. Surprisingly, “Bridgerton” ranks only eighth with 806 million viewing minutes, suggesting that its third season, which premiered on Netflix on May 16, may not be achieving the expected success.
Another notable Netflix series in the top 10 is “Eric,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It experienced a 38% increase in viewership from its opening week, accumulating 926 million viewing minutes. “Young Sheldon” rounded out the top 10 with 786 million viewing minutes.
The sole movie in the top rankings is “Hit Man,” which had a theatrical release in Israel but went straight to Netflix in America, where it garnered 984 million viewing minutes.
This success story isn’t Israel’s only claim to fame in the streaming world. Keshet International has announced that the Israeli series “A Body That Works” is currently featured in Netflix’s global top 10 most-watched programs list. The show has broken into the top 10 in numerous countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland and Romania.
Sold by Keshet International to Netflix, the surrogacy drama series premiered on the platform less than a month ago in its original Hebrew version, starring Rotem Sela, Gal Malka, Yehuda Levi and Lior Raz.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
