“Beef” Is The Latest Netflix Sophomore Slump

A look at the recent seasons of returning Netflix series suggests some surprising slumps, especially in the second seasons of breakout shows.

Deadline reports that the critically acclaimed “Beef” pulled in 4.1 million views in its first full week on the streamer on April 20-26th, coming in at #3. That follows on from the 2 million views it pulled in over its first four days in the week of April 13th-19th (it debuted on the service on April 16th).

The number pales in comparison to the first season, which drew 5.8 million in its first few days and then 12 million in the full following week – essentially an audience drop of around 65%.

Meanwhile, the Kate Hudson-led “Running Point” returned the other week as well, the second season landing 5.3 million in its opening weekend – a drop of 43% from the 9.3 million who tuned into the first season.

It comes amidst numbers that indicate several of Netflix’s most popular series have been struggling to retain audiences across seasons of late. The recent third season of “The Night Agent” lost 40% of its Season 2 opening audience, while both the live-action “One Piece and “Bridgerton” dropped around 10% each in their most recent season debut weekends.

There are exceptions though, most notably “The Lincoln Lawyer” which actually went up 28% in its recently launched fourth season.