“Bridgerton” enjoyed a royal welcome upon its debut on Netflix.
According to the streaming giant, the Shondaland series is projected to reach 63 million households within 28 days of its Christmas Day debut. That would make it the fifth largest Netflix original series launch of all time. The show has also reached the number one spot on Netflix’s top 10 rankings in 76 countries.
Netflix also claims that December 2020 and the week of Dec. 25-31 were their biggest on record for both the month and the holiday week as measured in total view hours and the average view hours per subscriber.
It is important to note, however, that Netflix does not measure its audience the way traditional networks do. The number of viewers Netflix reports is based on the number of subscribers who have watched at least two minutes of a piece of content.
Still, the series has indisputably proven popular from the outset, holding a 92% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The news is no doubt welcome at Netflix, as “Bridgerton” is the first series to debut under series executive producer Shonda Rhimes’ nine figure Netflix overall deal.
The show is inspired by Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton family novel series. It follows Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), the eldest daughter of the powerful Bridgerton family, as she makes her debut onto Regency London’s competitive marriage market.
Netflix also released viewership information for the “Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl” spinoff film “We Can Be Heroes” from writer and director Robert Rodriguez. The film, which also dropped on Christmas Day, is project to reach 44 million households within four weeks of its debuted. A sequel is already in development.