Netflix very rarely get it wrong when it comes to projecting the viewership numbers of their biggest original movies and TV shows, but even the streaming service’s almighty algorithm severely underestimated how popular period piece Bridgerton was going to be.
A couple of weeks ago, the company announced that Shonda Rhimes’ first series under her exclusive $150 million development deal was on track to draw in 63 million viewers in the four weeks after it debuted on Christmas Day. That would have been good enough for fifth place on the platform’s all-time chart behind The Witcher, season 3 of Stranger Things, the fourth run of Money Heist and Tiger King, although it would have been knocked back one spot by Lupin‘s impressive global reach after the French crime thriller was expected to nab second place thanks to drawing in 70 million households.
However, Netflix have now revised their data to announce Bridgerton as the biggest show in their history, after the insanely popular eight-episode drama was seen by 82 million people, putting it far ahead of the 76 million who checked out Henry Cavill’s first set of adventures as Geralt of Rivia.
That means that over 40% of the streamer’s 200 million subscribers have watched at least a little bit of Bridgerton, which makes sense when everyone seems to know at least a handful of people that binged the entire thing in the space of a day or two. Not only did it reach the number one spot on the Top 10 list in 83 countries, but it charted in every nation across the planet where Netflix is available with the exception of Japan, which is an incredible level of success for a show that exploded out of nowhere.
