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The story of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt and her relationship with Ruby Franke, the mommy vlogger who was sentenced to years in prison for child abuse, continues to be popular among viewers.
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, which launched on December 30, has topped Netflix’s film charts with 15M views.
It’s a remarkable number for a story that has already been told in a number of other documentaries and docuseries.
Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke launched in February 2025 on Hulu with 7.9M global views in its first five days of streaming, making it the Disney streamer’s biggest Hulu docuseries to date. Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence also premiered on Investigation Discovery in September and is now on HBO Max.
Fremantle-produced Evil Influencer was bigger than KPop Demon Hunters, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Goodbye June and Dr Seuss’ The Grinch, which make up the rest of the top five English-language films list.
The doc, which is directed by Skye Borgman, who was also behind Netflix true-crime hit Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, tells the story of the Hildebrandt, a Utah therapist, whose involvement in child abuse alongside Franke was just one thread in her web of manipulation.
It explores the dealing with their Mormon church community in Utah, Hildebrandt’s life-coaching company ConneXions, and the role of Kevin Franke, Ruby’s former husband who now has custody of their six children.
True-crime continues to remain one of Netflix’s biggest genres. In August, Deadline reported the numbers around Amy Bradley Is Missing and Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes. Amy Bradley Is Missing, which tells the story of how the 23-year-old disappeared without a trace from the cruise ship she and her family were vacationing on, totaled 26.2M views over its first three weeks with The Son of Sam Tapes, which comes from Joe Berlinger, landing 3.4M views in its premiere week.
American Murder: Gabby Petito was the streamer’s fifth most popular title for the first six months of 2025, behind only Adolescence, Squid Game, Zero Day and Missing You. It reached 56M views with over 120M hours viewed.
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer and Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story were also in the top 50.
Netflix’s data dump in February 2025 also saw big numbers for docs including The Menendez Brothers, American Murder: Laci Peterson, Worst Ex Ever, Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey and This Is the Zodiac Speaking.
English (US) ·