When ABC’s enduring medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” made its debut in March 2005, Netflix was still a DVD-by-mail company. There were plenty of pagers but not an iPhone in sight when viewers met Meredith Grey and the show’s first set of surgical interns. This week, “Grey’s” finishes its 20th season with apparently no end in sight for the crew at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
Star Ellen Pompeo announced at Walt Disney Co.’s recent advertiser presentation that “Grey’s Anatomy” is the Burbank-based entertainment giant’s most streamed program globally. To date, the signature series from producer Shonda Rhimes has garnered 3.
2 billion hours streamed on Disney services Disney+, Hulu and Star+ around the world. “Grey’s Anatomy” is also a powerful draw on Netflix, which has been its streaming home in the U.S.
since 2009. In March, the streamer started sharing the series with Hulu, which now offers the entire library and carries the newest episodes. The recently completed Season 20 arrives on Netflix in the fall.
“Grey’s” is a prime example of what has long been the not-so-secret sauce that helped propel Netflix’s success. Although new original series and movies are often what lure viewers to the service, audiences end up immersed in the libraries of established programs that got their first exposure on traditional cable and broadcast TV. “Grey’s Anatomy,” renewed for a 21st season on ABC, has 430 episodes, making it a binge-viewing mother .