Netflix’s live special “Skyscraper Live” drew 6.2 million views in its first tracked week, landing No. 3 on the streamer’s global English-language TV chart for the week of Jan. 19–25. Netflix’s own weekly Top 10 list placed the event behind “HIS & HERS” (17.2 million views) and “Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials” (8.7 million).
The two-hour program follows climber Alex Honnold as he scales Taipei 101 without ropes or a harness, a high-wire experiment for a platform that has been widening its live ambitions. The same weekly list shows other event-style programming charting in several markets, including WWE Raw episodes that Netflix has been carrying live.
Netflix originally scheduled the climb for Friday, Jan. 23 in the U.S., then postponed it about 30 minutes before airtime after rain in Taiwan raised safety concerns. The company rescheduled it for the next night and reiterated that safety drove the call.
The stunt forced producers to plan for uncomfortable contingencies that scripted TV rarely confronts. Honnold told Netflix’s in-house outlet before the climb that he expected nerves at the start because the challenge felt new, and he added that his focus stayed on execution rather than audience size. Producer Grant Mansfield described a “two-tick” decision process in which both Honnold and the production team had to agree conditions were right to proceed. Netflix executive Jeff Gaspin said the show ran on a 10-second delay, with the ability to cut away fast in an emergency.
The numbers deliver a clear win for Netflix’s live-event scorecard, but reactions to the presentation split quickly. Some viewers praised the sheer tension of watching Honnold climb in real time, while others criticized the broadcast style and commentary, arguing the production sometimes fought the moment instead of letting it breathe.
