This Number Shows Why Netflix Will Really Miss ‘The Office’ In 2021

Back on Feb. 27, 2o20, Netflix
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premiered its Top 10 list. Updated daily, those rankings showcased the ten most popular movies and shows on the streaming platform.

For shows, Love in Blind kicked things off in first place. Which was followed by I Am Not Okay With This, then Narcos: Mexico, then Locke & Key, etc.

Then, down in seventh place was the show for which many people even had a Netflix subscription in the first place: The Office.

Two-hundred and eighty-nine days later—today, on Dec. 12, 2020—that beloved sitcom is still a member of the Top 10 rankings. And during that 10-month window, The Office has been on the Top 10 list a whopping 177 different times.

And that’s going to be an issue come Jan. 1, 2021—because that’s the day that The Office leaves Netflix for NBC’s new streaming platform, Peacock.

Think about that number: 177. That means for the 289 days Netflix has publicly displayed the ten most popular shows on its platform, The Office has been a staple more than 61% of the time.

To paint a picture: the next-closest Top 10 count belongs to CoComelon, a program targeted at young children that is currently in the midst of an insane 107-day streak.

But past that animated juggernaut, Avatar: The Last Airbender owns the third-longest total with 61 days. Then it’s Ozark with 57 days, then Schitt’s Creek with 55 days, then Outer Banks with 51 days.

In fact, only eight shows have ever eclipsed a 50-day count on the Top 10 charts (The Queen’s Gambit notched its 50th consecutive Top 10 appearance today, in fact). Which means that The Office’s 177-day count absolutely obliterates any and all competition.

Currently, The Office has earned the third-most points in 2020 (you can read more about the Top 10 points system here). The sitcom’s 445 points outpaces many of Netflix’s most popular shows, including Tiger King, Ozark, Outer Banks, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Umbrella Academy, Cobra Kai—the list goes on and on.

Which that means Netflix may need to replace The Office with another show that has those kinds of legs. Usually, viral shows like Tiger King or Outer Banks trend for a while, but then slowly fade from the Top 10 charts. But no other show besides The Office has been able to captivate Netflix’s adult audience for such an extended period of time.

And with the streaming market becoming more and more saturated and competitive, that’s something Netflix truly may need to fix next year.