Netflix viewers are tuning into hour-long videos of fireplaces this festive season rather than actual shows.
Although subscribers usually rush to watch whatever TV series or film has recently been uploaded to the streaming service, this week they’ve seen clips of fireplaces fly into the Top 10 most watched programmes.
First made available in 2013, the Crackling Fireplace allowed viewers to use their TV screens as pretend fireplaces to feel cosy during the cooler seasons.
‘Enjoy the sights and sounds of a real crackling fire that lends warmth and a festive glow to parties, family gatherings — or a quiet night at home,’ Netflix explained.
In recent years TV-show themed fireplaces for some of Netflix’s biggest hits have also been released, including one inspired by The Witcher. This year fireplaces inspired by Bridgerton and Squid Game were also added to the offerings.
This week two of the originals – Fireplace for Your Home: Crackling Birchwood Fireplace and Fireplace for Your Home: Classic Crackling Fireplace have now made it into the most-watched lists.
On Boxing Day in the UK, the former even edged out the new season of Squid Game as the most popular programme that evening.
Although plenty are clearly tuning in, others have been left confused by the popularity of the fireplace videos.
‘Top 10 TV programmes on Netflix being Fireplace for your home and literally is an hour-long programme of a fireplace is killing me….,’ user escobarre_ posted on X.
‘The fireplace like an actual fireplace on loop on Netflix being in the Top 10 TV programmes is sending me,’ Simi shared.
‘Two of the Netflix top 10 are fireplace loops, just wasting electricity and Wi-Fi,’ Tristan added.
However, kuw_sp commented: ‘IDK why Netflix has started adding these fireplaces but I’m really enjoying them. The crackling of the burning wood is so beautiful to listen to.’
Meanwhile Stuart went so far as to say: ‘The best show on Netflix right now is that recording of a fireplace you can watch on a loop.’
Another said they ‘hated to admit it but the fireplace is better than normal TV content’.
Despite the cosy feeling created by the one-hour long clips, Netflix has also cheekily reminded viewers: ‘Caution: Not a reliable source of heat.’
The Netflix fireplace videos were originally inspired by the WPIX Yule Log, a three-hour-long loop of a 17-second-long film of a roaring fireplace at Gracie Mansion, the New York City mayor’s residence.
First airing in 1966, the intention was to give virtual warmth to New York residents without access to a fireplace in their homes.
It proved so popular the station made it an annual tradition to air the recording on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.
The Netflix versions were developed by director George Ford, who was inspired after his kids constantly asked him to make them a fire during the holidays.
‘I thought it would be much easier to just place a television inside our fireplace hearth than keep making a real fire,” he previously told The Independent.
Although Netflix and other streaming services he pitched the idea to thought he’d ‘completely lost it’ at first, he delivered the concept two years later and it was snapped up.
However, it’s not been a straightforward process, with the first ever Fireplace for Your Home requiring 200 real fires to develop and film.
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