The Crown viewing figures revealed: 73 million households watch royal drama
Netflix has lifted the veil of secrecy over viewing figures for The Crown, revealing that nearly half of its subscribers have watched the show.
In total, 73 million of the 158 million households with a Netflix account have seen the royal drama.
The third series, starring Olivia Colman as the Queen, was watched by 21 million households in its first four weeks - 40 per cent up on the same period for series two - despite some viewers suggesting that Colman paled in comparison to her predecessor, Claire Foy.
Netflix hailed the figures as a major success. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said: “Seventy-three 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 the figures show that it is less popular than Sex Education (watched by 40 million accounts in its first four weeks) and Stranger Things (64 million).
Viewing figures for the UK were not released, but last year the BBC director-general, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, suggested that he had seen data showing it had a fraction of the audience for the BBC One drama Bodyguard.
The fourth series of The Crown is currently in production at Elstree Studios. It will cover the early years of the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales. For the fifth and sixth seasons, the cast will change again and Imelda Staunton is said to have signed on to play the Queen.
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.
Suzanne Mackie, executive producer of the series, said recently: “To be honest, whatever the life of The Crown is after where we are now, I doubt we’ll ever go as far into the present day.”
