Skyscraper Live, the live broadcast of climber Alex Honnold, managed to capture the attention of millions of viewers around the world.
The special, which showed the renowned athlete climbing without ropes (free solo) up one of the tallest skyscrapers on the planet, reached 6.2 million views on Netflix and was positioned as one of the most viewed content of the week on the platform.
The climb took place at the Taipei 101 tower in Taiwan, an iconic building that for years held the title of being the tallest in the world.The event was originally scheduled to be broadcast live on Friday, January 23, but weather conditions forced it to be postponed to the following night.
Due to the time difference, the delay meant that in Taiwan the climb was moved from Saturday morning to Sunday morning.This change significantly reduced the window of time to accumulate audience within Netflix’s weekly measurement period.
Despite only having one day – from Saturday night to Sunday night – to add views within the ranking from January 19 to 25, Skyscraper Live managed to place itself in the number three position in the Top 10 of series and programs in English.
The result was considered notable, especially given that it was a live, high-risk event, in an unusual format for the platform.
In an interview with Variety after completing the feat, Alex Honnold explained that neither the altitude nor the weather conditions were the main stress factor during the day.“Climbing is always at the mercy of nature,” he said.
According to the athlete, his entire career has been conditioned by variables such as heat, cold, wind or rain.“That wasn’t what made it different,” he said, noting that what was truly stressful was the pressure of being a live broadcast.
As if that were not enough, the mountaineer confessed that the possibility of postponing the event made him concerned about the logistical impact it would have on the technical team.
“I was thinking about the number of people involved, the flights that had to be changed and the hotels that had to be rearranged,” he explained.That tension, more than the physical challenge, made the difference with other climbs in his career.
In the weekly Netflix ranking, the first two places went again to His
Behind Skyscraper Live, other notable titles included Finding Her Edge in fourth place with 5.5 million views.BertKreischer’s scripted comedy Free Bert debuted in the Top 10 at No. 8 with 3.2 million.
Regarding the ranking of English films, The Rip, starring BenAffleck and Matt Damon, remained in first place for the second consecutive week.The film registered 40.4 million views, a slight decrease compared to the 41.6 million obtained in its first three days on the platform.
