Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look drove more than 100,000 US Netflix sign-ups on its launch day, the service's third-highest sign-up peak of 2026, according to research firm Ampere Analysis. Netflix, Rockstar and Take-Two have published no subscriber figures of their own.

Ampere Analysis released the numbers on 10 September 2026 and the games press picked them up the same day. What the firm actually measures: the six-hour Netflix exclusive on 27 August produced more than 100,000 US sign-ups over launch day, behind only the final instalment of Stranger Things and the Rousey vs Carano MMA card among this year's sign-up peaks, and ahead of almost every live sports event Netflix has streamed in 2026. Ampere's PlumResearch panel adds a second figure that is harder to game: more than 5 per cent of US users who had not opened Netflix in the previous 30 days came back and watched the Extended Look before anything else, a reactivation rate above any series or film on the service in the measured period. Katie Holt, senior research analyst, reads the deal as Netflix buying its way into gaming culture without owning any games; senior research manager Louise Wooldridge calls the window proof of a gaming event's pulling power. The rest of Ampere's argument is audience shape: 84 per cent of gamers watch YouTube monthly against 62 per cent for Netflix, 16 per cent of Netflix subscribers do not play games at all, and the Netflix base is 49 per cent male against 72 per cent of Grand Theft Auto fans. Two cautions before the number gets reused. It is US-only and it counts gross sign-ups rather than net subscriber growth, so it does not sit next to the 31.1 million global views Netflix reported on its own chart. And the unit of time is launch day, not the exclusive window, so headlines reading 100,000 in six hours are more precise than the data behind them.

Updated: 2026-09-11