The extensive, and over the top, promotion of Bridgerton season 3 appears to have resulted in a successful season, however, a source has revealed that the Netflix executives are not happy with the viewing numbers for season 3, and are considering the season a failure, despite the positive spin in the press. The executives at Netflix were expecting a much bigger return on season three than they got, considering the amount of money and effort put into the promotion and world tour. Currently season 3 is sitting on 105 million views putting it at number 6 on the all time top 10 English Language shows, which is about 12 million more views than season 2. Whilst the numbers look impressive to most of the fans, when digging into the trends, and looking at viewer behaviour, this is probably not the bump in viewers Netflix executives were expecting or wanting for season 3 when they agreed to an extensive promotional campaign.
Image Credit: Jason Bell
But let's look at the numbers more closely. Whilst the initial viewing numbers were very high, there was a much quicker and sharper drop off of viewers from week to week, with part 2 providing a slight bump. However, the viewing number for part 2 were down on those for part 1, and again dropped off quickly and sharply week to week. This suggests a high abandonment rate or, more importantly, a failure to attract a lot of new viewers when the new viewers brought in over the two years since season 2 released is taken into consideration. It is important to note that this is speculation on my behalf, and mostly my opinion as to the reasons for the trends, and the unhappiness of the Netflix executives as I don't have access to all the data and metrics that Netflix uses.
What I do have is an idea of the numbers of subscribers to Netflix, which for season 2 was approximately 207 million, whilst for the release of season 3 the number of subscribers was around 277 million subscribers (a 25% increase in the two years), whilst for the release of season 1 there were only about 195 million subscribers. Looking at the views for the first 90 days as a percentage of the subscribers, we can see that season 1 comes out on top by a significant margin with the views being approximately 58% of subscribers. For season 2, the first season released after lockdown ended we see that the views are approximately 45% of subscribers, whilst for season 3 the views are only about 38% of subscribers.
These numbers work on the assumption that each view is a unique view from individual viewers, however, an analysis of viewing habits of Netflix subscribers showed that approximately 26% of viewers will rewatch a show on the platform, thus reducing the overall number of unique views. Applying this to Bridgerton, this would translate to: aproximately 43% of subscribers tuning in for season 1; approximately 34% of subscribers tuning in for season 2; and approximately 28% of subscribers tuning in for season 3.
But the viewing trends are not the only indication that season 3 did not live up to the expectations of the Netflix executives. The Social Media engagement also suggests that Colin and Penelope did not capture the imagination of viewers outside the fandom. With the exception of one or two posts the majority of engagement since the beginning of season 3 promotion comes from posts of other characters, not Colin and Penelope. Currently on the official Bridgerton Twitter account the most liked post is the season 4 announcement for Benedict, whilst on Instagram it is a short promotion of Kate and Anthony. On Youtube the season 3 part 1 trailer is the best performing video in terms of engagement, with an almost 50% drop off in engagement for the part 2 trailer. Also, on all platforms (when I looked) the solo promotions of Penelope/Colin and the majority of the couple promotions were often out performed by other characters for season 3, for example Kate and Eloise have more engagement than Penelope and Colin in the 'gossip chain' videos. This suggests that it is not Penelope and Colin that drives Bridgerton engagement, but also that perhaps they did not capture the interest of the general audience, and new viewers, in the same way Daphne & Simon or Kate & Anthony did. Another factor to note is that there wasn't the same level of viral moments from season 3 that we saw from season 1 or season 2, nor were there as many memorable lines from the leads as what we saw for the previous two seasons. In fact one of the most viral moments from season 3 came from Philippa, as did one of the most memorable lines, all adding up to a season that didn't perform to expectations.
I will say that I am not suggesting season 3 was a complete bomb, it is still one of the most watched Netflix shows after all, but it also isn't as successful as some may believe, nor is it the success the Netflix executives were hoping for or expecting. The over the top promotion for season 3 did not pay off for Netflix in terms of the main metrics they measure, and from all accounts they are not happy with the performance of the season. It is understood that the Netflix executives are more than aware that it is characters such as Benedict, and Kate & Anthony that drives the engagement, and that it is Simon that the viewers are missing the most from the show. Everything was gambled on Penelope & Colin's season, and they lost, not just in the views, but also in the goodwill of many viewers. How this will impact future seasons and their promotion is hard to know, but it is likely that future seasons won't get the same level of promotion as Netflix will not want to risk putting so much money, time and effort into promoting a season that will again fail to live up to expectations.
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