Streaming giant Netflix has revealed that the South African series The Polygamist has been a global hit, with more than 159 million hours watched since its debut within a month.
The Polygamist premiered in Netflix’s catalogue and has now reached more than 16.5 million individual viewers, making it the 58th most watched series in the world since January 2026.
The series is based on the novel of the same name written by Zimbabwean author and investment analyst Sue Nyathi, who has been writing since she was 20. She made her debut with her best-selling book, The Polygamist, which was published in 2012 and her critically acclaimed The Gold Diggers in 2018 was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize.
Building on that, Nyathi finished her literary career with A Family Affair (2020), An Angel’s Demise (2022) and Rubies and Rain (2025). The Kenya Times reports that she started writing as a passion project while simultaneously trying to build a career in finance, but in 2018 she gave it up and opted to work full-time as a writer.
Nyathi has also written novels and was a screenwriter for E-tv drama Matatiele (2015) as well as SABC 2 drama Bone of My Bones (2017). Her best-known book, The Polygamist, was inspired by her observations of men who are married but live a double life, having secret families and children. “It was a very interesting thing, very secretive,” says Nyathi, and while she didn’t start writing until 2010, it first appeared in her mind when she lived in Harare from 2001 to 2005, where her maternal grandfather practised polygyny.
The 22-episode “supernovela” Netflix adaptation has made quite the mark in South Africa as the series became one of the top shows on the service since it premiered on 12 June 2026, and is trending on social media. It was released on Netflix’s global charts, where it shot to rank 2 in just a few days after its release and rose to rank 1 in 16 countries and the top 10 in 63 countries, including the United States, in its 2nd week.
The series examines emotional, financial and health issues of polygamous marriages. The character of Jonasi Gomora, played by Sdumo Mtshali, has sparked plenty of debate about his character’s moral ambiguity on social media, with many engaging with the film’s themes and messages.
Now, Netflix has revealed the most popular films and series on its streaming service for January-to-June 2026, with users spending more than 97 billion hours binge-watching those movies and shows. They said that South Africa’s debuts such as the film 180 (37 million views) and the series The Polygamist Season 1 (17 million views) have made it to the global hits chart.
The gritty South African thriller 180 is also seeing a great international release, with more than 36.8 million views since its release in April 2026 and more than 58.3 million hours of viewing. It was the 19th highest-grossing movie on Netflix during the first half of this year, beating big movies from around the world such as the latest Jack Black movie and Despicable Me 4.
This is in line with Netflix’s findings on the engagement of original films and their ability to continue drawing a huge audience for a variety of genres. For example, KPop Demon Hunters, which was released last year, is still the 4th most-watched movie.
The streaming giant pointed out that its measurement of engagement goes beyond viewing hours and also considers the nature of viewing experiences for its audience. We need to provide a variety of programming that will appeal to the needs of various tastes and moods to succeed.
