Ryan Murphy’s newest true crime entry, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, has climbed to the top of Netflix’s global TV charts, drawing 20.7 million views between October 13 and 19. The series, centred on the notorious American murderer Ed Gein, continues Murphy’s trend of dramatising real-life criminals. Its debut week followed an impressive start, adding to the 12.2 million views collected during its first four days on the platform.
While the series’ performance mirrors that of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which logged 19.5 million views in its opening week, The Ed Gein Story appears to be losing traction. Average daily viewership dropped from 4.1 million during the premiere weekend to around 2.9 million in the following days.
Initially, the series showed a similar growth curve to Murphy’s breakout hit Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which dominated Netflix upon release. However, Dahmer maintained its momentum with an average of 4.4 million daily views through its first full week, while The Ed Gein Story has now settled into viewing numbers closer to the Menendez series, averaging 2.8 million per day.
Despite holding the No. 1 spot, The Ed Gein Story is unlikely to reach Dahmer’s record-breaking success, which remains Netflix’s fourth most popular show ever. Unless audience interest surges in the coming weeks, the new season may not enter the platform’s all-time top list.
The dip in viewership could be tied to shifting audience preferences as Halloween approaches, with lighter, themed content pulling attention. Is It Cake? Halloween claimed the second spot on Netflix with 5.7 million views, followed closely by Victoria Beckham, a celebrity docuseries, which drew 5.6 million viewers.
Elsewhere on Netflix, Greg Cope White’s dramedy Boots, adapted from his memoir The Pink Marine, opened modestly with 4.7 million views. The show follows a gay teenager navigating life in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1990 while concealing his sexuality.
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