Netflix & Disney+ Score UK Streaming Highs After Debuting David Beckham & Coleen Rooney Series

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix and Disney have scored ratings success in the UK after both streaming services premiered documentaries taking viewers inside the lives of soccer stars.

October proved to be a good month for Netflix and Disney+, with both platforms posting their highest audience reach of 2023 after debuting series about David Beckham and Coleen Rooney, wife of former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney.

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Reach calculates the number of UK viewers who have watched at least three consecutive minutes of a streaming service or linear network channel.

Netflix’s reach stood at 43M last month, while Disney+’s equivalent figure was 27.37M viewers, according to Barb, the UK’s official TV audience research body.

Netflix has not had a better month since December 2022 when its reach was 44.7M at a time when television viewing is high around the festive period.

Beckham, the Fisher Stevens-directed documentary in which David and Victoria Beckham open up their lives, netted Netflix’s biggest audience of the year, launching with 3.8M viewers on October 4.

Disney+’s rating of 27.37M was its best since Barb started reporting audience reach figures for streaming services in October 2022.

Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story premiered for Disney+ on October 18 and explored her headline-making legal battle with Rebekah Vardy.

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