The 10 most watched Netflix cartoons (January to July 2024)
Much sooner than I expected, Netflix released its viewership statistics for the first half of 2024. Like the previous posts on this, here’s a look at the most watched animated shows on Netflix from January to June 2024.
Criteria
I note this is based on global Netflix viewing, so some of the shows might not be available for US viewers. Also note I don’t know every cartoon that exists, so had to look up some entries I didn’t recognize. If I missed a TV show or movie, please let me know.
10 most watched animated TV shows on Netflix, January-June 2024
Peppa Pig (season 6), 27,500,000 views
CoComelon Lane (season 1), 23,900,000 views
Hot Wheels Let’s Race (season 1), 22,100,000 views
Peppa Pig (season 3), 20,600,000 views
Peppa Pig (season 1), 19,500,000 views
Bad Dinosaurs (season 1), 19,400,000 views
Peppa Pig (season 4), 19,000,000 views
CoComelon (season 1), 18,700,000 views
Masha and the Bear (season 5), 17,400,000 views
Peppa Pig (season 5), 16,200,000 views
10 most watched animated movies on Netflix, January-June 2024
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 80,300,000 views
Minions, 72,700,000 views
The Boss Baby, 63,600,000 views
Despicable Me 3, 61,600,000 views
Shrek, 56,900,000 views
Leo, 53,900,000 views
Orion and the Dark, 46,300,000 views
Trolls, 42,700,000 views
Sing 2, 40,400,000 views
Hotel Transylvania 2, 36,500,000 views
My thoughts
Variety notes that among the most-watched licensed TV shows, all seasons of “CoComelon” combined have more total viewers than “Peppa Pig” (124,500,000 for “CoComelon” versus 117,400,000 for “Peppa Pig”). Still, combining all cartoons like that wasn’t feasible for me (as it'd take way too long), so I’ve stuck with individual seasons for the TV show list. Thus, why “Peppa” is #1 on the list. I note that in the US, “Peppa Pig” is available on Netflix and Paramount+, though the latter is considered the “official” home for the franchise.
As usual, it’s preschool TV shows that dominate the list. In comparison, Netflix mainstay "Big Mouth" has a total viewing (for all seasons combined) of 13,600,000 views, or not even what any single season of "Peppa Pig" pulls in.
Looking at the total viewing for a few other Netflix-related cartoons I've previously discussed:
All of the Barbie TV shows combined total 29,500,000 views. The most popular show? "Life in the Dreamhouse" (with 10 million views), followed by "Dreamhouse Adventures: Go Team Roberts" (season 1) with 3.1 million views. "Life in the Dreamhouse"'s numbers suggest Barbie fans still want to see a satirical take on the franchise? Meanwhile, the Barbie movies total 46,300,000 views; despite the 2023 "Barbie" theatrical film being available on Netflix in some parts of the world, the most watched film is "Barbie: Dolphin Magic" (at 9 million views), followed by "Barbie: Mermaid Power" (7.3 million views) and the interactive special "Epic Road Trip" (5.8 million views). If wondering, the theatrical film saw 2.3 million viewers, though I note in the US, the film's only available on Max.
"Dead End: Paranormal Park" has 1 million views (600,000 for season 1 and 400,000 for season 2).
"Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City" has 700,000 views (400,000 for season 1 and 300,000 for season 2). The CGI animated specials have higher viewership, totaling 3.7 million views; "Strawberry Shortcake's Summer Vacation" is the most-watched special, with 1.5 million views. I note "Strawberry Shortcake" is (at least in the US) also available on Paramount+ and Peacock, as well as on YouTube.
Oscar-nominated film "Nimona" has 11.2 million views.
The most-watched anime TV show is “Delicious in Dungeon” (season 1), which has 8,800,000 views. That’s followed by “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” (“Hashira Training Arc”), with 7,800,000 views. “Demon Slayer” is the most popular anime series on Netflix, making up half of the top 10 most watched anime TV shows.
On the movie side of things, DreamWorks and Illumination films dominate the top 10 list, with “The Super Mario Movie” the most popular animated film of the first half of 2024. Counting all films, including live-action, it’s #5 on the list. Despite Peacock existing, Netflix has very strong ties to Comcast’s animation studios. Netflix even has a live-action/CGI animated film of the (Comcast-owned) Woody Woodpecker.