This study investigates the effect of presence and sequence of viewing activities on the learning of new words in French L2. It examined if there is a difference in perceived usefulness of pre- vs. post-viewing activity (RQ1) and whether the perceived usefulness corresponds to students' vocabulary scores (RQ2). Eighty-seven adolescent, beginner French L2 students from Switzerland participated in the study. Fifty-one target words were selected from three captioned 13-15 min excerpts from the French TV series "Plan Coeur" (Netflix, 2018). The participants watched each excerpt in a different condition (episode only, episode and pre-viewing activity, episode and post-viewing activity). In the activities, the participants had to recognise the correct meaning (translation) of target words. Three immediate and one delayed meaning recognition vocabulary post-tests were administered to four upper-level classes (HI) and two lower-level classes (LO). Students' learning beliefs were collected using a self-evaluation questionnaire. Results from the questionnaire showed that both LO and HI learners perceived the post-viewing activity as most beneficial. The descriptive analysis of the questionnaire further supported that learners' beliefs concerning the usefulness of the pre-/post-viewing activities generally correspond to learners' actual learning gains. These results highlight the importance of pre-/post-viewing activities when learning new vocabulary through audio-visual input in foreign language teaching. [For the complete volume, "Foreign Language Learning from Audiovisual Input: The Role of Original Version Television. Educational Linguistics. Volume 66," see ED676342.]