“The Dropout,” Hulu’s 2022 limited series in which Amanda Seyfried plays Elizabeth Holmes, has seen a massive audience spike due to the buzz surrounding A24’s new Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything.”
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Viewership of “The Dropout” jumped by 186% in September compared to the month before, driven by the Sept. 6 announcement that “You Can See Everything” had been produced in secret. That interest continued growing as the film’s Oct. 16 wide release approached, with viewership during the week of Oct. 12 increasing 92% compared to the week before.
The data remains impressive when looking at specific totals: In August, before the buzz around “You Can See Everything” began, “The Dropout” was watched for 420,000 hours (or roughly 62,000 views when divided by the series’ nearly seven-hour runtime) — already decent for a four-year-old series. In September, viewership skyrocketed to 1.2 million hours, or 176,000 estimated views. The week of Oct. 12 alone brought in another 422,000 hours watched or 62,000 views; in other words, “The Dropout” brought in as many eyes during that seven-day period as it did in the entire month of August.
Interest remains high now that the film is in theaters: “The Dropout” has reached 997,000 hours watched (148,000 views) to date this month, bringing the total since September to 2.2 million hours, or 296,000 estimated views.
JustWatch, a service that centralizes information about where various streaming programs are available, also reported increased interest in “The Dropout.” The series jumped 200% in search points week-over-week after the release of “You Can See Everything,” and is in the No. 10 position on the site’s current streaming search rankings.
“The Dropout” isn’t the only piece of Holmes media enjoying a bump thanks to the success of “You Can See Everything”: John Carreyrou, the journalist who brought down Holmes’ fraudulent empire, returned to the New York Times bestseller list with his 2018 book “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.”
Directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, “You Can See Everything” premiered as a surprise screening during the Telluride Film Festival, before which its existence had not been made public.
“The Dropout” was created by Elizabeth Meriwether and was widely loved upon its 2022 release, with Seyfried winning the Emmy for lead actress in a limited series. That year, Meriwether and Seyfried both indicated to Variety that they would be interested in making another project about Holmes — “I’m not kidding, a two hour special!” Seyfried said — though Seyfried was more reticent in a recent interview.