‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 Sets Netflix Opening Weekend Viewing Record (Exclusive)

The second season of Bridgerton is shaping up to be as big a hit for Netflix as its predecessor.

The streamer’s weekly top 10 list for March 21-27 shows the Regency-era romance having a huge first weekend. In the three days after its March 25 premiere, season two of Bridgerton amassed 193 million hours of viewing time worldwide — the highest for any English-language Netflix series in its first three days. Season two made the top 10 in 92 of the 93 countries where Netflix keeps track of rankings (Japan was the only outlier).

It’s also the second-highest opening weekend total of all Netflix series. Only part five of Spain’s Money Heist (201.9 million hours from Sept. 3-5, 2021) has delivered a bigger first three days, per Netflix’s internal measurements.

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Bridgerton executive producer Shonda Rhimes has three shows in the top five for March 21-27. Season one of Bridgerton moved back into the top 10, ranking third with about 32.3 million hours watched. Rhimes’ limited series Inventing Anna also marked its seventh week on the list, ranking fifth with 29 million hours.

Netflix’s internal rankings have tended to be backed up by independent measurement from Nielsen (which lags a few weeks behind the streamer’s postings). Recent Nielsen rankings, for example, have shown Inventing Anna getting off to a strong start, more than doubling its viewership in its first full week and declining somewhat in week three.

Season two of Bridgerton also seems likely to join its predecessor and Inventing Anna in Netflix’s all-time top 10 for English-language series. The company uses a show’s first 28 days to determine placement on that list, and season one of Bridgerton currently ranks first with 625.49 million hours of viewing time over that span. Inventing Anna is fourth with 511.92 million hours.

With the huge start, Bridgerton season two is poised to join the all-time top 10 in the next couple of weeks. Its opening weekend already puts it 42 percent of the way to the current 10th-ranked series, season two of You (457.37 million hours over 28 days). Given that Netflix shows tend to grow substantially in their first full week after a Friday premiere, Bridgerton is on track to surpass 400 million hours of viewing for its second season by Sunday.

Squid Game remains the runaway No. 1 for all Netflix series regardless of language, having racked up an astonishing 1.65 billion hours of viewing worldwide in its first 28 days. Red Notice (364 million hours) is the most watched film on the service.