3 Body Problem. Eiza González as Auggie Salazar in episode 103 of 3 Body Problem. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
3 Body Problem‘s first batch of viewing figures from Netflix has just been released, and it’s doing pretty well, although it’s by no means a smash hit yet.
Netflix has invested heavily in this show, whether it’s giving it a huge budget to produce in the first place which clearly is evident if you’ve watched the series. But it also extends to the marketing. There’s been a massive and concerted effort to make it a hit. The streamer has invested heavily in this show, throwing its entire marketing and promotional machine at it. If you’re in Los Angeles, it’s hard not to see a billboard promoting it. If you’re online and follow Netflix, you’ve been bombarded for the past week about it and will continue to be this week. Netflix even cleared this week of major Netflix Original releases to give it some breathing room.
So, let’s get into it—how well did 3 Body Problem debut? After four days, it debuted as the second most-watched English-language series, with 81.70 million hours watched, equating to 11 million views (viewing hours divided by the watchtime—7 hours and 24 minutes). The Gentlemen continues its reign at number 1, picking up another 78 million hours watched, equating to 11.70 million views in its third week.
The period measured for this first set of numbers is between March 18th and March 24th, 2024.
Per Netflix, here’s how they describe the performance so far:
“3 Body Problem, the new sci-fi series from David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo, began its invasion in second place with 11M views over four days. The “sci-fi epic” reached the Top 10 in 93 countries, drew critical acclaim, sent the novels on which the series is based back to bestseller lists and took over landmarks and screens in 28 countries around the world.”
3 Body Problem top 10 TV series debut week
How does this stack up in views in week 1? Our resident top 10 expert, Frédéric Durand, put together a quick graph of how the first 4 days stack up against other major Netflix series launches, and while it’s by no means a super launch like Avatar: The Last Airbender recently achieved or other big hits like The Night Agent or The Watcher.
It ranks notably ahead of 1899 and Resident Evil, but only slightly. Both of them were later canceled.
The evolution of this show’s viewership in weeks 2 and 3 will be vital to its success in getting a renewal order. We’ll need to see a substantial rise in viewing hours in week 2, and from there, it’ll be about how well it can hold and data that’s unavailable to us perhaps most importantly, its completion rate.
If we compare the viewing hours week-to-week with multiple shows of similar budgets, we can see that the show needs to emulate The Sandman in gaining significantly in its first full week and then dropping gradually. 1899, on the other hand, dropped off considerably in the third and fourth weeks. We should note, however, that The Sandman was aided following the release with the animated special, which was released around two weeks after the initial season drop.
| 3 Body Problem | 1899 | The Sandman | Avatar: The Last Airbender | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 81,700,000 | 79,270,000 | 69,480,000 | 153,400,000 |
| Week 2 | TBD | 87,890,000 | 127,500,000 | 144,200,000 |
| Week 3 | TBD | 44,620,000 | 77,240,000 | 65,700,000 |
| Week 4 | TBD | 27,530,000 | 53,790,000 | 37,500,000 |
| Week 5 | TBD | 17,850,000 | 33,320,000 | 24,600,000 |
| Week 6 | TBD | – | 19,590,000 | TBD |
| Week 7 | TBD | – | 12,220,000 | TBD |
FlixPatrol Data for 3 Body Problem
Let’s dive into the individual top 10 data so far for FlixPatrol as of March 26th. While it’s a little too early to really make use of their data, we can see that despite a relatively subdued launch (mainly because of The Gentlemen’s continued excellent performance), the show has gained momentum and is currently picking up maximum points in most regions with a few notable exceptions.
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Picture: FlixPatrol
SambaTV Data
Samba TV was one of the first metrics companies to release a date for 3 Body Problem, announcing that 961,000 US households watched it in the first four days. In addition, they note that “Asian households tuned in at the highest rate, over-indexing by 14%, followed by Black households at 12%.”
If we look at all the 4-day data Samba TV has released for TV series thus far, we can see that it ranks fairly low behind Resident Evil and The Umbrella Academy season 3 but notably above One Piece and The Witcher season 3—Volume 1.
Click for the full picture – Picture: What’s on Netflix
We’ll have lots more data on 3 Body Problem in the coming weeks and months, and it will be fascinating to see how it evolves. No doubt, we’ll feature the show a little more in our Top 10 report tomorrow, too.
Our full season 2 preview will be live tomorrow. It includes what’s been said about a second season and beyond, plus our predictions on where we’re headed next story-wise.
How do you assess the first week’s viewing stats for 3 Body Problem so far? Let us know in the comments.