Netflix’s New True Crime Hit ‘The Idaho Murders’ Has Viewers Hooked and the Numbers Prove It

True crime has long been one of Netflix’s most dependable genres, and the streamer just found its latest obsession. Docuseries built around real killings, courtroom drama, and unanswered questions tend to dominate the platform’s weekly charts, and the newest entry into that lineup is no exception. Audiences have once again proven they cannot resist a well told true crime story, especially one tied to a case that has already captivated the public for years.

That case is the brutal 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students. On November 13, 2022, the bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle were discovered in an off campus home in Moscow, Idaho, and for nearly two months afterward the killer remained unidentified. Through bodycam footage, text messages, and interviews with loved ones, the new documentary investigates that horrifying crime and the manhunt that followed.

Now ‘The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare’ is officially a phenomenon. The three part docuseries launched on July 29 and tallied 18.2 million views in its first week on Netflix, climbing straight to the top of the streamer’s most watched TV list for the week of July 27. That tally covered just the first five days of release, and no other title on the English language TV chart came close.

The numbers only look more impressive next to the competition. ‘Ransom Canyon’ Season 2 landed in the No. 2 spot with 5.5 million views, while ‘The Bombing of Pan Am 103’ took third place with 5 million views and ‘I Will Find You’ pulled in 4.8 million views in its seventh week on the platform. Per FlixPatrol, the docuseries became the most watched series worldwide, holding the top spot in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, and several other countries.

Part of the show’s appeal seems to come from its approach. Unlike other true crime projects that have covered this case, ‘The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare’ leans into a victim first structure, giving more attention to who Mogen, Goncalves, Chapin, and Kernodle actually were rather than focusing purely on the crime itself. Critics have generally credited the series for prioritizing the four students’ lives over sensationalizing the details of their deaths, even as some noted it does not necessarily uncover new information about the case.

This is far from the only project to tackle the Idaho murders. Peacock released ‘The Idaho Student Murders’ last summer, and Amazon Prime released the four part series ‘One Night in Idaho: The College Murders’ within weeks of it, with the Amazon project already renewed for a second season. Amazon also has a separate scripted drama in development, based on a nonfiction book about the case, with Liz Garbus and Matthew Galkin attached to co-direct the companion docuseries.

The timing of Netflix’s release adds another layer of intrigue. Just as the docuseries dropped, Bryan Kohberger sought to abandon his guilty plea in favor of a trial, claiming he had been misled into confessing. With the case still legally unresolved and audiences clearly invested, ‘The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare’ looks poised to stay in the conversation for a while longer. Do you think Netflix’s victim first take on the Idaho murders finally does justice to Mogen, Goncalves, Chapin, and Kernodle’s stories, or does the crime deserve to be left off screens altogether?