Why is Outer Banks so popular?

The show Outer Banks is currently ranked #1 in top watched on Netflix. The first season came out in April of 2020. Recently, on February 23rd, Netflix released the 3rd season of Outer Banks. Since the show came out, it currently has 1,160 million watchers. With a 7.6/10 star rating on IMDb. This shows targeted audience hits the age range of teenage, to young adults. The official show rating is TV-MA.

The show overview reads, “On an island of haves and have-nots, teen John B enlists his three best friends to hunt for a legendary treasure linked to his father's disappearance.” also from IMDb. Outer Banks falls into an array categories which include, coming of age, teen romance, mystery, adventure, and suspense. But what exact features about this show made it as popular as it is?

Outer Banks has many different qualities, what I mean by that is that it has many different elements making the show alluring. First I have to address that shows really only speak to a certain audience. Whilst Outer Banks holds many ideas conveyed by other shows, like The Goonies, Euphoria, and The Outsiders. This makes it widely more interesting for a diversity of  people with a variety of TV show preferences. 

Moving on to the “relatable” factor. The characters in the show have very real problems and struggles that can be relatable to their watchers. Jessica Welsh  noted a couple issues addressed in Outer Banks which are, college application and tuition pressures, drug abuse, friendships, relationships, foster care system, and domestic violence. The characters can also be relatable in their personalities, opinions, ideas, hobbies, and actions. This is another reason why Outer Banks is so popular, thus it’s fandom continuing to grow

Overall, since the beginning, Outer Banks has been an attention catching, mind hooking, popular show for many people across the world. Using elements of existing famous movies, and shows for a hint of nostalgia, varying genres packed into one for an ongoing interest, as well as relatable topics and situations that have captured Outer Banks’s diverse audience of which gave this show around 160 million hours viewed. After season 3 was released on February 3rd, 2023, the cast is proud to announce that after such success, Netflix is preparing a 4th season. The excitement is uncontainable by fans, everyone needs to get ready for the anticipating continuation of the success of Outer Banks.