Analysis finds imports such as Adolescence, The Diplomat and Wednesday dominate
Nine out of the top 10 most-watched Netflix titles in Australia in 2025 were imported shows, with local programming accounting for just 4% of watch time.
Those were among findings from a new report from UK-based data firm Digital i, which showed that Australian drama Apple Cider Vinegar from See-Saw Films was the only local series to break into Netflix Australia’s top 10 shows by reach, with 3m subscribers streaming the series.
UK and US imports dominated Netflix viewing in the country, with Adolescence taking top spot with reach of 4.1m.
Film Happy Gilmore 2 and series Wednesday, Stranger Things and Untamed make up the top five, followed by feature KPop Demon Hunters, Apple Cider Vinegar, feature Back in Action, thriller series Missing You and comedy series Sirens rounding out the top 10.
While only 4% of viewing time on Netflix Australia was made up of local programming, a marked contrast was noted in fellow APAC countries Japan and South Korea, where domestic content was far more popular.
In Japan, Digital i reported that 57% of viewing time was spent on local shows, while the equivalent figure in South Korea stood at almost 64%.
Bullet Train Explosion, The Apothecary Diaries and Last Samurai Standing were the most popular three shows in Japan on Netflix, while When Life Gives You Tangerines, The Trauma Code and KPop Demon Hunters took the top spots in South Korea.
Engagement & exports
The research also underlined the importance of US shows to Australian viewer engagement.
Out of the streamer’s most popular 100 seasons by reach, the top 10 shows on Netflix Australia by completion rate (those who started and finished the show) were all American, with The Diplomat S3 topping the table with 89.2% viewers watching the entire season.
Nobody Wants This S2 XO, Kitty S2, You S2 and Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action S1 rounded out the top five, all of which were watched in their entirety by more than four out of five subscribers.
Squid Game S3 was completed by 81% of viewers in Japan, with Alice in Borderland (77%) and Adolescence (75%) also in the country’s top three, while The Trauma (84%), Squid Game S3 (81%) and Weak Hero (78%) took the top spots in Korea.
The report also underlined the ongoing popularity of South Korean programming, with 10bn hours of the country’s shows watched outside of its home country and across Digital i’s survey countries (the UK, France, Italy. Germany, Spain, the Nordics, the Netherlands, the US, Poland, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Australia and Japan).
Of that total, 1.5 billion hours was to Squid Game alone.
Elsewhere, 7.3bn hours of Japanese content was viewed in 2025 outside of the home country, while Australian shows totalling 1.3bn hours were watched across the Digital i survey area.
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