‘Tiger King’ Is One Of Netflix’s Biggest Hits Ever

If you’ve been on Twitter at any point over the last two weeks (I pray that you haven’t), you could probably guess that Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is a hit for Netflix. Now we have the data to back up the assumption: Nielsen reports that docu-series was watched by 34.3 unique viewers during its first 10 days of release. That’s bigger than Stranger Things season two, and a shade below Stranger Things season three, which ranks among Netflix’s most-watched programs ever. (I say “might,” because Netflix is famously private about its viewership; even the Nielsen numbers are unofficial.)

“[Tiger King] topped season two of Netflix hit Stranger Things, which had 31.2 million unique viewers in its first 10 days, and was within shouting distance of Stranger Things season three, which drew 36.3 million over the comparable 10-day span,” according to Variety. “On an average per-minute basis, Tiger King pulled in an audience of 19.0 million among United States viewers from March 20-29, Nielsen reported. That also was higher than Stranger Things season two (17.5 million) and nearly matched Stranger Things season three (20.5 million).” I can only presume that both Tiger King and every season of Stranger Things finished behind Girlboss. It was too popular for this world!

Buzz built quickly for the show, with Tiger King’s daily average minute audiences jumping to over one million by day three; two million by day seven; and four million by day nine. From March 20-29, it was the number one most-tweeted TV show tracked by Nielsen over that time period, with 1.8 million total organic (non-paid) interactions on Twitter about Tiger King.

Tiger King has been the most-watched program on Netflix for over two weeks, a new record for the streaming service. Much of the show’s popularity can be attributed to people being stuck indoors, with nothing else to do than fire up Netflix. But if “Here Kitty Kitty” hits the Billboard Hot 100, then things will have gone too far.