Bridgerton. Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington in episode 301 of Bridgerton. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024
Bridgerton is now out in the wild with the first batch of episodes of season 3 streaming. How well did it perform, and how does it compare to season 2 and last year’s Queen Charlotte? Is it even comparable? Let’s dive in.
In case you missed it, Bridgerton is back. The Shonda Rhimes series has been a certified hit for quite some time, but season 3 has actually seen a rise in viewership, showing just how much of a juggernaut it is. Both seasons 1 and 2 still reside in Netflix’s top 10 most watched of all-time list, with Bridgerton season 1 sitting at #4 and season 2 at #9.
Season 3 will 100% be joining it in due course.
Let’s dig in, then. In its first four days, Bridgerton season 3 scored 165.20 million viewing hours, equating to 45.10 million completed viewing equivalents or, as Netflix calls them, views.
BRIDGERTON season 3 part 1 pulls in 45.1M completed viewing equivalents in its first few days on Netflix globally! pic.twitter.com/lToBrOwfw6
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) May 21, 2024
How did Netflix describe the opening four days for Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1? Here’s what they put via press release:
“Spring has sprung, which means it’s finally #Polin (not pollen) season. Part 1 of Season 3 of Shonda Rhimes’ Bridgerton debuted at #1 on the English TV List, racking up 45.1M views. The series, which stars Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, was #1 in 78 countries and reached the Top 10 in 92. And this is only the beginning. With Part 2 set to release on June 13, who knows how high this wallflower will climb? PSA for the millions of fans having post-binge withdrawals: find yourself a support group, put on some music, light a candle and get into something comfy – more of the carriage-style scenes you’re craving will be here shortly. Both previous seasons of the juggernaut series also held court on the list. Season 1 landed at #4 (4.5M views) and Season 2 claimed #8 (3.3M views). Both seasons appear on the Most Popular List.”
Here’s a look at that full TV top 10 list for the week, and you can see just where Bridgerton features:
| Rank | Title | Hours | Views |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bridgerton: Season 3 | 165,200,000 | 45,100,000 |
| 2 | Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal: Season 1 | 24,600,000 | 9,500,000 |
| 3 | Baby Reindeer: Limited Series | 29,500,000 | 7,400,000 |
| 4 | Bridgerton: Season 1 | 37,300,000 | 4,500,000 |
| 5 | Kevin Hart: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor | 5,400,000 | 4,100,000 |
| 6 | Bodkin: Season 1 | 23,300,000 | 4,000,000 |
| 7 | The Roast of Tom Brady | 10,500,000 | 3,400,000 |
| 8 | Bridgerton: Season 2 | 27,700,000 | 3,300,000 |
| 9 | A Man in Full: Limited Series | 10,900,000 | 2,400,000 |
| 10 | Blood of Zeus: Season 2 | 7,400,000 | 1,800,000 |
Queen Charlotte notably missed out on the top 10 global titles this week, although it was likely close to getting in. FlixPatrol reports that the 2023 limited series has also been featured in over 50 country charts over the past few days.
Frederic Durand, who publishes his own Substack and writes our Top 10 Reports every Wednesday, gave us a sneak peek at what we can expect from his column tomorrow with two graphs comparing the opening week of Bridgerton to other titles.
Making direct comparisons is ultimately pretty hard with split seasons because you’re not comparing apples to apples, but it’s a worthy exercise.
Let’s begin comparing with other Netflix split seasons in recent times that were released on a Thursday, where you can see Bridgerton is handily beating You by almost double the amount of views.
One split season we haven’t included is Stranger Things, which only had 3 days before the first numbers came in. That debuted with 56.4M views.
Let’s look at the current views compared with season 2 and Queen Charlotte. Again, this isn’t a perfect comparison, given that both were released as full seasons, but it’s tracking far ahead in terms of views.
Seeing how the series now evolves in the weeks and months to come, with the second half coming in June 2024, will be fascinating. Will the series see a weaker boost in viewing hours like The Witcher had in week 5 (+194%) or a stronger one like The Lincoln Lawyer (+338%) – watch this space.
Just to round out, we wanted to take a look at how well interest is holding up for Bridgerton. Using Google Trends, we can see that interest is actually still growing!
How are you enjoying Bridgerton season 3 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "As a new crop of debutantes yearns to become the brightest of the ball, a wallflower with a double life finds her light amid secrets and surprises."
