American Murder just became Netflix’s most watched documentary feature

True crime documentary film, American Murder: The Family Next Door, has just become the most watched documentary feature on Netflix, according to viewing figures which have been released.

The true crime film covers the case of the Watts family killings. In 2018, Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife Shanann and their two young daughters. It was believed he did it so he could be with his other girlfriend, Nichol Kessinger, forever.

Netflix just released its third quarter financials, sharing a lot of new viewing stats for the most watched shows and series ever. It showed that 52 million viewers tuned in to watch the documentary feature – making it the best performing ever.

The only other true crime to come up in the viewing stats which Netflix has released is Tiger King – with 64 million views. This is a series however, so is a different category from American Murder: The Family Next Door. It was also revealed that social media documentary, The Social Dilemma, was viewed by 38 million households.

Since the Netflix doc about his crimes was released, it’s been said that Chris Watts is “ashamed” of the feature, which brings up “bad memories” for him. A source from his prison, where he is currently serving five life sentences, said: “He’s curious about it, but he hates even knowing that his texts are out there for the public to read. It brings back awful memories of 2018 for him.

“There’s a lot of curiosity about him in prison. He’s the most high-profile inmate and what he did is incomprehensible, so everyone wants to know more about the case. Chris knows that every part of his life is out there for public consumption. He hates it. It makes him feel a lot of shame. But he also knows that he brought it upon himself.”

The viewing figures metric is measured by how many people watch the title in the first 28 days of release.

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Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Ranked: These are officially the most watched series and films on Netflix ever

• Chris Watts’ other girlfriend is applying to change her name following Netflix doc

• Here are even more films, series, books and podcasts all about the Chris Watts case