The Dropout viewership rises as Elizabeth Holmes documentary draws attention
Variety reported a 186% increase in viewing of Hulu’s The Dropout in September, followed by another rise as You Can See Everything approached its October release.
Hulu’s Elizabeth Holmes drama The Dropout drew 186% more viewing in September than in August, Variety reported on October 20, as attention grew around the documentary You Can See Everything. Viewing rose again in the week of October 12, ahead of the film’s October 16 wide release. The figures show renewed interest in the 2022 series, though they do not establish that the documentary alone caused the increase.
How much The Dropout viewing increased
Variety linked the September rise to interest following the September 6 announcement that You Can See Everything had been made in secret. It reported that The Dropout was watched for 420,000 hours in August, equivalent to about 62,000 views when divided by the series’ nearly seven-hour running time. Those view estimates describe full-series equivalents, rather than a count of individual viewers.
During the week of October 12, viewing was 92% higher than in the preceding week, Variety reported. The series stars Amanda Seyfried as Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing company Theranos. The two viewing comparisons cover different periods: September against August, and one October week against the week before it.
Interest also appeared in streaming searches. Variety said JustWatch, a service that tracks where programmes are available to stream, recorded a 200% week-over-week increase in search points for The Dropout after the documentary’s release. The service placed the series at No. 10 in its streaming search rankings. Separately, Variety reported that John Carreyrou’s 2018 Theranos book Bad Blood returned to the New York Times bestseller list.
The documentary’s opening and its subject
The film itself made more than US$15 million in ticket sales in its US opening, according to CNN reporting by Brian Stelter republished by RNZ. CNN described it as the biggest documentary box-office opening in more than 20 years. The film opened on fewer than 900 screens, and many screenings in New York and Los Angeles sold out. That theatrical result provides context for the renewed attention to Holmes stories across television, streaming searches and books.
You Can See Everything follows Holmes as she approaches imprisonment and while she serves her sentence. In her review for The Verge, Elizabeth Lopatto wrote that Nathan Fielder and his team filmed Holmes during her last month of freedom and remained in contact for two more years. Lopatto’s account concerns what the film shows; the audience figures come from Variety’s reporting.
The documentary’s strong opening had already been covered in NewsJaws’ earlier report on its $15 million opening weekend. The new development is the reported increase in viewing of The Dropout as the film drew attention.
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Sources and context
- Don’t forget for a second that Elizabeth Holmes is a liarThe Verge
- 'You Can See Everything' becomes one of the biggest documentary releases in decadesCNN, republished by RNZ; by Brian Stelter for CNN
- Elizabeth Holmes Mania: ‘You Can See Everything’ Drives 186% Viewership Spike for Amanda Seyfried’s ‘The Dropout’ (EXCLUSIVE)Variety
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.