Netflix has debuted its fair share of ambitious projects over the past year, and new series A Series of Unfortunate Events definitely qualifies. The show is based on a book saga that is loved by many but failed to take off into a successful film franchise. Season 1 premiered on January 13. Netflix doesn't release ratings, but some estimated numbers are in and they tell us just how A Series of Unfortunate Events performed in its first weekend. Honestly, those numbers aren't half bad.
The Live+3 Day numbers indicate that 3.75 million adults in the valuable 18-49 age demographic tuned in to A Series of Unfortunate Events during its opening weekend in the average minute. The 3.75 million ranks A Series of Unfortunate Events as the #4 most-streamed show in its opening weekend on Netflix, according to calculations from Symphony Advanced Media. The only shows to score better viewership in Live+3 were Fuller House Season 1, Orange Is the New Black Season 4, and the Gilmore Girls revival in December.
While the #4 ranking is impressive for A Series of Unfortunate Events, it should be noted that Symphony has only been approximating Netflix viewership for a little over a year. The numbers for shows released several years earlier are not available, so it's entirely possible that Unfortunate Events would rank much lower if previous seasons of shows like Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards were in the running. That said, A Series of Unfortunate Events did definitively beat out other recent originals in Symphony's numbers.
A Series of Unfortunate Events did slightly better than Luke Cage Season 1, which earned 3.38 million viewers in the average minute over its first weekend. Luke Cage is followed by Daredevil Season 2, Fuller House Season 2 (which was a huge drop from Season 1), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 2, and House of Cards Season 4. Fuller House Season 1 continues to hold the record for most viewers in the average minute in Live+3.
Of course, Netflix is known for its refusal to share official viewership numbers, so it's impossible to verify Symphony's calculations to the exact decimal point. Symphony produces its numbers based on cell phone microphones and audio recognition technology in order to identify what program a given viewer is watching, according to The Wrap. Live+3 numbers also aren't always the best indicators of the success or failure of a series. It should be interesting to see how A Series of Unfortunate Events performs when more time has passed and more data has been accumulated.
Hopefully Netflix will be encouraged enough by the numbers for A Series of Unfortunate Events Season 1 to order a Season 2. Book author Lemony Snicket is actively planning a second season with a team of writers, but no official announcement from Netflix has yet been made. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in renewal and cancellation news, and be sure to check out our 2017 Netflix premiere schedule to see what else you can stream in the near future.
