The anticipated return of Bridgerton, Netflix’s Shonda Rhimes-led Regency-era drama was predictably, the most widely watched show in subscription streaming last week, generating 165.2 million streaming hours and 45.1 million account views.
It was Netflix's biggest weekly audience since limited series Fool Me Once generated 238.2 million streaming hours and 37.1 million account views from Jan. 1-7, according to Netflix's weekly global audience ranker.
The drop of the first four episodes of Bridgerton: Season 3 generated less audience engagement than season 2, which garnered 193 million viewing hours in its first week on the platform.
But there mitigating factors that skew this comparison. Bridgerton: S3 debuted on Thursday May 16, giving its initial audience tally four days of viewing. But Netflix staggered the drop this time, with the final four season 3 episodes not dropping until June 13.
Season 2, meanwhile, debuted in full on Friday, March 25, 2022, giving it only a three-day accounting period. But all eight episodes dropped at once.
The second season of Bridgerton is Netflix's ninth most watched English-language TV series after 28 days on the platform ever, generating 797.2 million streaming hours and 93.8 million account views.
In terms of critics aggregation, S:3 is up over S:2, with the new iteration scoring an 85% vs. 78% for the second season, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Also read last week's report: ‘Mean Business: Roast of Tom Brady’ Boasts Nasty Numbers — Netflix Weekly Rankings for May 6-12
Season 1 ranks No. 4 on that list, which is pasted here below:
Bridgerton’s season 3 bow did outpace the last iteration of the franchise, six-part spinoff limited-series prequel Queen Charlotte, which dropped in full on May 4, 2023, generating 148 million viewing hours in its first four days on Netflix.
Additionally, the season three drop drove catch-up viewing for the series, landing the first and second seasons at No. 4 and No. 8 in last week's rankings, respectively (see charts below).
The Bridgerton premiere punctuated an otherwise uninspiring week for Netflix.
The Wednesday, May 15 premiere of three-part limited-series documentary Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal ranked second among original domestic TV shows with 24.6 million streaming hours and 9.5 million account views.
Among other premieres, comedian Kevin Hart’s televised roast and acceptance of The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor captured just 5.4 million viewing hours and 4.1 million views.
Meanwhile, The Roast of Tom Brady revealed such comedy specials to be fairly perishable, with the one-off event holding onto only about a quarter of its engagement in its second week (10.5 million streaming hours and 3.4 million account views.
On the film side, Brooke Shields’ wedding dramedy Mother of the Bride maintained the No. 1 spot among domestic titles for a second week with a steady 38.1 million viewing hours and 25.4 million views.
Sony-Marvel title Madame Web, which bombed at the global box office in February, found an audience of 20.8 million streaming hours and 10.8 million views. This means more folks probably watched it in less than one week on Netflix than saw it in theaters worldwide.
