‘Irishman’ Watched by 40 Million Households Over First Month

(Bloomberg) -- Netflix Inc. expects 40 million households to watch “The Irishman” in its first month, making the Oscar contender one of the streaming service’s most popular movies.

The gangster epic directed by Martin Scorsese was seen in 26.4 million homes in its first week, Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said Tuesday at an investment conference. The film, which debuted online Nov. 27 after a run in theaters, stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.

Netflix is selective about the viewing data it releases, often leaving Wall Street and Hollywood guessing about whether its shows and movies are successful. Nielsen previously indicated that “The Irishman” was seen by 13.2 million U.S. viewers in its first five days of release. That put it above “El Camino,” this year’s cinematic follow-up to the TV show “Breaking Bad,” but below “Bird Box,” Sandra Bullock’s supernatural thriller from 2018.

Sarandos seemed determined to show Netflix was being as transparent as possible with the “Irishman” numbers. At the conference, hosted by UBS Group AG, he gave the viewing figure in full with no rounding: 26,404,081. That’s about a sixth of all Netflix subscribers.

Still, even at 40 million for the month, that’s well below the 80 million that “Bird Box” attracted.

Given the film’s 3 1/2-hour running time, there were questions about whether most viewers could make it to the end. Netflix said it only counted households in its tally who watched at least 70% of the movie.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles at lshaw31@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III

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