The new Netflix series which gives football fans an insight into the lives of three NFL quarterbacks has hit the top of the charts on the streaming giant.
The series called Quarterback follows the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, the Minnesota Vikings' Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons' Marcus Mariota, who has since gone to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Quarterback tracks their 2022-2023 season over eight episodes as they try to make it to the Super Bowl. It also features their family and staff at their respective clubs. In the first episode, Mahomes' wife, Brittany Matthews features heavily.
Released on July 12, the series went to the top of Netflix's most watched charts in the U.S. by its second week on the streamer, according to website Flixpatrol, which tracks official top lists from streamers.
Equity Sports, a talent agency representing some of the most renowned athletes in the world, congratulated Mahomes and the Quarterback producers on their success.
"Congratulations to@PatrickMahomes on Quarterback being the #1 show in the U.S. on @netflix ‼️" the company wrote on Twitter.
Quarterback also made the top 10 in Canada, Switzerland and Ireland, according to official Netflix statistics.
Some of the shows Quarterback beat to get to the top spot in the U.S. include Suits, the legal drama featuring Meghan Markle, The Lincoln Lawyer, Too Hot To Handle, Survival of the Thickest, Henry Cavill's The Witcher and Is It Cake?
Mahomes, who some pundits say has the potential to become the best NFL quarterback in history, has at age 27 won two league MVPs as well as two Super Bowl trophies, including the thrilling victory this last season over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kirk Cousins, 34, ranks sixth all-time in completion percentage with at least 1,500 pass attempts. He was on the last year of his contract with the Vikings during the season featured in the Netflix docuseries.
Mariota, 29, was the second pick in the 2015 draft for the Tennessee Titans. He joined the Falcons in 2022, but the season would prove to be a difficult one for the quarterback as evidenced by the fact that he has now joined the Eagles.
Netflix has favored sports documentaries over live sporting events like its competitors, which have broadcast major sporting events, such as English Premier League soccer (Amazon) or Friday Night Baseball games (Apple).
Sports documentaries tend to fare very well on Netflix. The Last Dance, for instance, which told the story of Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls made the top 10 in more than 50 countries, including the U.S. where it spent 29 days in the 10 of Netflix's most watched shows, according to Flixpatrol.
The docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive fared even better and was a top performer not only in the TV section but on Netflix overall.
"It really showed us that the ceiling was much higher than we might have thought," said Brandon Riegg, Netflix's vice president of nonfiction series, told The New York Times.
Newsweek contacted Netflix by email for comment on Quarterback's success.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
