Netflix says that 'Bird Box' was viewed by 80 million accounts in its first month

Netflix said that 80 million accounts watched "Bird Box" in its first four weeks.
It said last month that 45 million accounts viewed the movie in the first week, a record for a Netflix original film.

Netflix released more viewing numbers for its hit thriller "Bird Box" during its 2018 fourth quarter earnings report on Thursday.

Netflix announced last month that "Bird Box," which debuted on December 21, was viewed by 45 million accounts in its first week , which it said was the best-ever first week viewership for a Netflix original movie yet.

The streaming giant said that 35 million accounts watched the movie after its record-breaking first week, raising the total number of accounts that have viewed it to 80 million.

Netflix counts a view if a single account watches more than 70% of a movie.That means that the movie's viewership dipped quite a bit following its first week, but still averaged nearly 12 million subscribers viewing it per week.

"Bird Box" stars Sandra Bullock as a mother trying to protect her children after a mysterious entity wipes out most of humanity. The characters wear blindfolds to shield their eyes from the unseen creatures.

The movie has inspired viral memes and the "Bird Box Challenge," which involved people doing dangerous activities, even driving, with a blindfold on. Netflix had to issue a warning on Twitter against the challenge earlier this month, and YouTube is changing its guidelines to ban dangerous pranks and stunts.

Netflix also said on Thursday that its new hit shows "You" and "Sex Education" will likely be viewed by 40 million accounts in their first four weeks. Similarly to a movie, Netflix counts a view for a TV show as an account watching more than 70% of at least one episode.

Netflix estimates that it now accounts for 10% of TV-viewing time in the US.

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