73m viewers watched third Crown series, Netflix reveals
NETFLIX has lifted its veil of secrecy over viewing figures for The Crown, revealing that 73million people watched the show.
That amounts to nearly half of the streaming service’s 158 million subscriber households.
The third series, starring Olivia Colman as the Queen, was watched by 21million households in its first four weeks – 40 per cent up on series two over the same period – despite some claiming Colman paled in comparison to Claire Foy, her predecessor.
Netflix hailed the figures as a major success. Ted Sarandos, the tech firm’s chief content officer, said: “Seventythree million households around the world have made The Crown part of the global cultural zeitgeist. Thanks to creator and writer Peter Morgan and a phenomenal cast and crew, the show’s popularity grows with each new season and, as the recent SAG and Golden Globe Awards demonstrate, its quality remains unsurpassed.”
The show won best actress for Olivia Colman at the Golden Globes, and outstanding performance by an ensemble cast at the Screen Actors Guild awards.
The Crown is the jewel in Netflix’s schedule, but it was less popular than Sex Education (watched by 40million accounts in its first four weeks) and Stranger Things (64 million).
Viewing figures for the UK were not released, but last year Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the BBC director-general, suggested he had seen data showing it had a fraction of the audience for the BBC One drama Bodyguard.
The fourth series of The Crown will cover the early years of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s marriage. Imelda Staunton is said to have signed on to play the Queen for the fifth and sixth seasons.
While the real Royal family is currently providing the nation with plenty of drama, the travails of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are unlikely to make it into the Netflix show.