When “Friends” arrived on Netflix back in 2015, it proved to be a game changer for both the streaming service and the sitcom.
Viewership was through the roof as a new generation of fans embraced the antics of the Central Perk Six. As a result, a sitcom that had ended its run on traditional television more than a decade earlier became one of the most-watched series on Netflix.
Netflix Lost ‘Friends’ to a Rival Streamer
GettyFor the next few years, “Friends” continued to stream successfully on Netflix.
That, however, changed with the 2020 launch of HBO Max, the competing streaming service owned by Warner Bros. — the studio that produced and owns “Friends.” Given the viewership the show earned on Netflix, WB execs were keen to bring all those eyeballs to their fledgling streamer, and the licensing deal with Netflix was not renewed.
A Stealth Return to Netflix
In the years since then, Netflix has remained a “Friends”-free zone — until July 2026, when the sitcom quietly returned.
Viewers noticed. As Collider reported, within a matter of days “Friends” wound up on Netflix’s worldwide list of top 10 shows.
Netflix viewers throughout the world immediately began binge-watching “Friends,” in countries including France, the Netherlands, Mexico, Australia, Estonia, Romania, UAE and New Zealand.
But There’s a Catch
While fans in those countries are sending “Friends” to the top of the worldwide streaming ranks, that is not the case in the country where the show was produced.
The series’ return to Netflix does not include subscribers in the U.S., where the show remains firmly ensconced on the HBO Max platform. In fact, the Netflix deal for “Friends” also excludes Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
Netflix Contributed to the Enduring Popularity of ‘Friends’
At its peak, “Friends” was the most popular show on television. Debuting in 1994 and concluding a decade later, the series finale was viewed by a staggering 50 million. The show’s stars benefited from that success; in the later seasons, each of the show’s six stars was earning $1 million per episode.
The show’s enduring popularity has certainly come as a surprise to “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman.
“When you set out to write a TV show, this is not what you expect,” she observed in an interview with Radio Times. “What you expect to happen is you’ll be on the air for a couple seasons and then it’ll die out. So the fact that we are here and the show is still somewhat relevant is very exciting.”
Netflix Shelled Out Big Bucks for ‘Friends’
Netflix reportedly paid somewhere in the region of $80-$100 million to keep the show on its platform through to 2019.
At the same time, Netflix streaming the show certainly contributed to generate new viewers for “Friends,” a sitcom that has continued to resonate with viewers who weren’t even born when it premiered.
“Because of Netflix, the show reached a whole new generation of people,” Kauffman added. “And those who were fans to begin with came to Netflix and watched it and made it one of their most watched shows.”
