Rapid Insights: Nobody Wants This Shows Opposites Attract Rom-Coms Still Work
Two weeks ago, Netflix dropped a sweet new opposites-attract-style rom-com and it immediately took off, premiering at #2 on the streamer’s global Top 10 list and attracting all kinds of social media buzz and editorial think pieces. Starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody as an agnostic sex podcaster and a newly single rabbi, respectively, the show continues the streamer’s wildly successful run at the romance genre.
Here’s what you need to know about Nobody Wants This:
Vault uses index scores to describe the impact a given story/theme/element will have on specific KPIs:
≤79 Disappointing 80-89 Challenging 90-109 Average 110-119 Promising 120+ Outstanding
Who’s been causing the show’s ratings boon?
We’re seeing an audience that’s mostly women (62%) and mostly aged 30+ (60%), the expected sweet spot for a rom-com about 40-something lovebirds. The Bell-Brody series is more gender-balanced than many of Netflix’s other recent entries in the romance genre, such as Emily in Paris, Never Have I Ever, Dash & Lily, Virgin River, and Bridgerton (all 72-83% women). Instead, viewership for Nobody Wants This more closely mirrors steamy sex drama Sex/Life and acerbic rom-com Love.
Why have so many been tuning in?
The rom. The series chronicles the heady early stages of a brand new relationship, and as magnetically-attracted opposites, the two protagonists generate a sizzling chemistry that’s proving irresistible to audiences. Viewers want to see the pair’s charming meet-cute, their romantic first dates (Dating Life, 160), their inevitable fights and conflicts (Romantic Conflict, 160), and, eventually, their ‘happily ever after’ (Falling in Love, 160).
What’s making the show so bingeworthy?
The com. In addition to romance, the show leans on a sparkling sense of humor that laces its central love story with an inviting variety of quips and winks. From the Sexual Humor (152) of an overly honest sex podcast, to the sweet and optimistic Feel-Good Humor (149) of a romance, to the truly terrible Romantic Advice (127) offered up by friends and family, to the Awkward & Funny Moments (126) borne of an agnostic and a rabbi attempting to embrace each other’s worlds, the fizzy comedy keeps viewers watching.
What will help push the series into a second season?
The Family Tension (146). The love story’s most daunting obstacle is the objection of friends and family (Family Relationships, 139) to such an unusual (mis)match, with the rabbi’s very traditional mother particularly determined to end the fledgling romance. These clashes–and the couple’s clumsy attempts to bridge the divide between their two worlds–will continue to provide a compelling story engine for next season and beyond.
How’s the show’s social buzz?
Stellar. The end-of-August trailer netted a “promising” (though very brief) bump in online chatter (to 119); with the full season episode drop, the show’s social buzz rocketed to the top of our meter (at 160) and has steadfastly remained there ever since.
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