Back in February, Netflix released its semi-annual look at its most watched TV shows and movies for the second half of 2024 (July to December). While I’m a bit late, here’s my look at the most-watched animated TV shows and movies for the second half of 2024.
Criteria
Numbers are based on global viewing, and ranked by number of views. Not every show or film listed below is available on the US version of Netflix. I’m also not familiar with every animated cartoon, so if I’ve missed something, please let me know.
The 10 most watched animated TV shows on Netflix, July-December 2024
- Arcane: League of Legends (season 2), 23,900,000 views
- Peppa Pig (season 6), 22,400,000 views
- Gabby’s Dollhouse (season 10), 20,400,000 views
- Dan Da Dan, 19,600,000 views
- The Bad Guys: Haunted Heist, 19,500,000 views
- Masha and the Bear (season 5), 17,200,000 views
- Peppa Pig (season 1), 17,000,000 views
- Peppa Pig (season 3), 17,000,000 views
- Bebefinn (season 2), 16,500,000 views
- Cocomelon (season 1), 16,400,000 views
The 10 most watched animated movies on Netflix, July-December 2024
- Sing: Thriller, 77,000,000 views
- Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018), 66,500,000 views
- Trolls Band Together, 60,700,000 views
- That Christmas, 60,100,000 views
- Sing (2016), 58,200,000 views
- Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, 55,600,000 views
- Minions: The Rise of Gru, 51,800,000 views
- Paw Patrol: The Movie, 48,100,000 views
- The Emoji Movie, 46,200,000 views
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 45,800,000 views
My thoughts
Preschooler stuff still dominates the TV side of things, but several shows that aren’t “Cocomelon” (or “Cocomelon”-esque knockoffs like “Bebefinn”) appeared in the top 10. Topping the list at #1 is season 2 of “Arcane: League of Legends,” a French animated series set in the world of the “League of Legends” video game. At #4 is the most-watched anime series on Netflix, “Dan Da Dan,” based on the manga series.
On the film side, the top movie is “Sing: Thriller,” which is an animated short (running 11 minutes), not a full-length film. A tie-in to the “Sing” movies, it’s set at Halloween and uses Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” (For me, the “Sing” films were OK, but felt like someone made an animated film based on their Spotify playlist.) At #2 is another Illumination production and the first feature-length film, the 2018 “Grinch” movie. At #4 is “That Christmas,” a holiday film set in the UK. I assume most of these viewing numbers came between October and December.
As for previous Netflix-related animated material I’ve looked at:
- The most-watched Barbie TV shows are the first season of “Life in the Dreamhouse” (9.6 million views), “Barbie Mysteries: The Great Horse Chase” (3.4 million views, which co-stars the African American Barbie “Brooklyn” Roberts), and “Dreamhouse Adventures” (season 3) (3 million views). The most-watched animated Barbie movies are “Dolphin Magic” (9.2 million views), “Mermaid Power” (5.2 million views), and the interactive “Epic Road Trip” (4.3 million views); the latter two also co-star Brooklyn. I note Netflix has since removed all of their interactive specials; the last two (based on “Black Mirror” and “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) were removed in mid-May.
- “Dead End: Paranormal Park” has a total of 900,000 views (500,000 for season 1; 400,000 for season 2).
- “Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City” sees its “Summer Vacation” special rank at 500,000 views, followed by its “Perfect Holiday” special at 300,000 views and season 1 at 200,000 views.
Image: “Arcane: League of Legends” (Fortiche / Riot Games) and “The Grinch” (Illumination).
