3 Body Problem. Jess Hong as Jin Cheng in episode 102 of 3 Body Problem. Cr. Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024
Official week 2 figures are now out in the wild for 3 Body Problem which shows how well the show is doing in its first full week on the platform. With not much competition to speak of, the show put in a solid performance growing 41% in terms of viewing hours.
In week 2, 3 Body Problem tops the English-language TV chart with 115.60 million hours watched which equates to 15.60 million views.
Here’s what Netflix said about this weeks figures in a press release:
“3 Body Problem, the sci-fi series from David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo, claimed the top spot on the English TV List with 15.6M views and was the most-watched title of the week. It was also the most talked about thanks to a worldwide You Are Bugs takeover, and that buzzed about scene in Episode 5. “
The stars are our destination. 3 Body Problem is #1 series in the world! pic.twitter.com/qvRa4PAmQ0
— 3 Body Problem (@3body) April 2, 2024
Here’s how its viewing figures look week-to-week at the moment with a reminder that views is equal to the number of hours watched divided by the runtime:
| Week Period | Hours Viewed | Views / CVE | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 17th, 2024 to March 24th, 2024 | 81,700,000 | 11,000,000 | 2 | 1 |
| March 24th, 2024 to March 31st, 2024 | 115,600,000 (+41%) | 15,600,000 | 1 | 2 |
So how does this compare with other shows? Thanks to What’s on Netflix contributor Frederic, he’s smashed out an early graph for 3 Body Problem comparing against two other big-budget shows: The Sandman and 1899. As a reminder, the former got renewed while the latter got canceled.
As you can see, 3 Body Problem is tracking above both so far after two weeks. No doubt there’ll be more in our top 10 report coming up tomorrow.
Updating the table we put together last week comparing the viewing hours between those two shows plus recent renewal Avatar: The Last Airbender, we can see that did grow significantly more than 1899 but perhaps not at the same level as The Sandman in week 2.
| 3 Body Problem | 1899 | The Sandman | Avatar: The Last Airbender | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 81,700,000 | 79,270,000 | 69,480,000 | 153,400,000 |
| Week 2 | 115,600,000 | 87,890,000 | 127,500,000 | 144,200,000 |
| Week 3 | TBD | 44,620,000 | 77,240,000 | 65,700,000 |
| Week 4 | TBD | 27,530,000 | 53,790,000 | 37,500,000 |
| Week 5 | TBD | 17,850,000 | 33,320,000 | 24,600,000 |
| Week 6 | TBD | – | 19,590,000 | 17,200,000 |
| Week 7 | TBD | – | 12,220,000 | – |
So the most important question is – is this enough for a season 2? While these week 2 figures do give us a sigh of relief, it’s not quite a slam dunk to make me confidently say whether or not the show is coming back for another season just yet.
Unless we get a renewal overnight like we did with Avatar: The Last Airbender in week 2, it may be the case that we need a few more weeks worth of data before we get a decision. Of course, Netflix has even more data behind the scenes like the all important completion rate for the series which is likely going to play a big factor. Are people ditching the series early? Are they taking their time to get through the series or have a lot of people already finished it?
Based on what we’ve got so far, 3 Body Problem is certainly not tracking for the all-time top 10 but for a new IP it’s doing well enough. Well enough relative to its budget? We’ll eventually find out.
External Stats for 3 Body Problem So Far
Looking at other data sources, we’ve got for 3 Body Problems so far:
FlixPatrol, who tracks the daily Netflix top 10s, shows 3 Body Problem did lose the top spot after a week in but has regained its #1 position having lost it between March 29th through April 1st to the docudrama series Testament: The Story of Moses. As we’ve covered in the past, the trick with FlixPatrol is seeing whether or not the show can stay in the daily top 10s for extended periods of time.
Picture: FlixPatrol
Google Trends data suggests globally that the show’s popularity peaked on March 24th and is currently at 59 as of April 1st. On IMDb’s MovieMeter, the show currently ranks first ahead of Road House in second and The Gentlemen at third.
How about social? Thanks to data provided to What’s on Netflix from Jonathan Cohen of BedRock PR sourcing data from ListenFirst, he tells us that 3 Body Problem is currently tracking fourth for new shows released in Q1 2024 with regards to average video views per post. Per his data, the show’s social media posts are getting an average of 1.05M video views per post trailing behind Fool Me Once, American Nightmare and Griselda.
We’ll have more social data on this in a post tomorrow – stay tuned!
Picture: BedRock PR
Finally, we’ve got new Luminate Data. Serving as a new rival in the US to Nielsen, they’ve published two (technically three if you include their last week’s stats column) weeks of data via Variety, and here’s a reminder of how the show is performing so far.
- On its first day of release, according to Luminate data for US minutes, the series was watched for 62.6M minutes.
- In its first full week (March 22nd to 28th), that increased by 2469% to 1.6B minutes. It ranked first ahead of Homicide: New York, which scored 889.6M minutes watched.
Sadly, we don’t have a large data set for Variety’s Luminate top 10 yet, so making comparisons is difficult at the moment.
We’re still waiting on Nielsen data which always comes around a month after a show debuts and then weekly from then on out.
Are you hopeful for a season 2 of 3 Body Problem following these numbers? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "Across continents and decades, five brilliant friends make earth-shattering discoveries as the laws of science unravel and an existential threat emerges."
