Netflix, Prime video and Disney Plus: Harry & Meghan becomes UK’s most-watched streaming series

Documentary beat out some fierce competition

The UK’s most-watched streaming series of the year has been revealed.

In 2022, numerous high-profile releases were made available on subscription services, including Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+.

However, it was one released earlier this month that has topped the charts as the most-watched of 2022: Harry & Meghan.

The controversial Netflix documentary featured several revelations from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Figures show that the first episode was seen by an average of 4.5m people in the seven days following its release on 8 December.

That’s more than a million and a half greater than the figure amassed by The Crown season five’s premiere episode (2.8m) earlier that month.

In the documentary, Harry alleged that his brother, the Prince of Wales, left him terrified after screaming and shouting during the Sandringham summit and that Kensington Palace “lied to protect my brother” when it issued a statement denying a story William had bullied him out of the royal family.

The Harry and Meghan documentary also beat this year’s other big releases on Netflix, including the highest-rated episodes of the latest series of After Life (4.1 million), Stranger Things (3.9 million) and Bridgerton (3.4 million).

Prime Video’s highest-rated show of the year was Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which amassed 3.2m viewers for its first episode in September.

Meghan Markle in Ndtflix documentary series ‘Harry & Meghan’ (Netflix)

Meanwhile, over on Disney Plus, episode one of Star Wars spin-off Obi-Wan Kenobi, had an audience of 3.1m people in the seven days after its release in May.

The figures, published by audience research organisation Barb, provide the first snapshot of how 2022’s leading subscription-only series have fared in the UK.

Despite episode one of Harry & Meghan attracting an audience of 4.5m, this is less than half the typical ratings for two of the most-watched shows on traditional non-subscription channels, the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, and well below figures for recent World Cup matches.

Find the full top seven below

1. Harry and Meghan (4.5m)

2. The Crown

3. After Life (4.1m)

4. Stranger Things (3.9m)

5. Bridgerton (3.5m)

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (3.2m)

6. Obi-Wan Kenobi (3.1m)

7. The Crown (2.8m)

Additional reporting by Agencies