Never doubt the sheer power of Netflix’s branding, because Jenna Ortega has just seen her following on Instagram not just double, but triple after Wednesday’s premiere.
Wednesday has been an absolute roaring success for Netflix, perhaps well beyond any expectations. Soaring past their other releases from this year, it’s overtaken Stranger Things, Dahmer, and The Watcher for viewership. The result of having over 1 billion people watching the series is its lead star getting a massive following.
Since the premiere of Wednesday, Ortega’s follower count on Instagram has gone from an already impressive 9 million to a staggering 27 million. 18 million followers gained in less than two weeks is a massive show of force. Ortega had a reputation prior to Wednesday as being an up-and-coming scream queen following roles in Scream 5 and Ti West’s X. Now it could be hard to see her as anything other than Wednesday Addams.
While very early to say, if she’s getting 18 million people actively interested in her suddenly, it could spell a massive box office number for upcoming Scream 6 which is set to release in 2023. Perhaps most intriguing is Wednesday hasn’t really picked up many strong reviews from critics, but has clearly survived off the back of her performance and audience interest.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise at all though; considering Netflix spent a lot of money to promote the series which they must have believed was a winner very early on. Spare a thought for all the originals that don’t get this level of promotion and fight to get organic views outside of brand recognition.
The viewership figure also suggests there’ll be no issue in Ortega getting a second season to play Wednesday Addams, it’s almost a matter of time until Netflix releases the news. Just 20 years old, Ortega has seen a huge jump in fame which few could’ve predicted.
Wednesday is available to stream on Netflix.
