‘Tiger King’ Was Watched by an Astonishing Amount of Households, Netflix Says

While Netflix has always been a little guarded when it comes to sharing its streaming numbers, it has been known to boast about a handful of shows when they’re runaway hits. Today, it reported that a few of its original productions have fit that category for the streaming platform, including Love is Blind and the action flick Spenser Confidential. However, their numbers all paled in comparison to Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness.

According to Variety, the Netflix docuseries was viewed by 64 million Netflix households worldwide since it premiered on March 20. Since then, the show has become a cultural sensation, resulting in bonus episodes, a TMZ special on Fox along with endless conjecture about who to cast in a big-screen version. The series focuses on former private zoo owner Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, better known to viewers as Joe Exotic. While Exotic has been enjoying his newfound fame, he’s had to do so behind bars, as he’s currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for animal cruelty and a murder-for-hire plot.

Part of the show’s popularity can be attributed to widespread “stay at home” orders that have been implemented in states throughout the country as a method of slowing the spread of coronavirus. In a statement, Netflix seemed to acknowledge the surge in viewers would be short-lived.

“We’re acutely aware that we are fortunate to have a service that is even more meaningful to people confined at home, and which we can operate remotely with minimal disruption in the short to medium term,” the statement read. “Like other home entertainment services, we’re seeing temporarily higher viewing and increased membership growth. In our case, this is offset by a sharply stronger U.S. dollar, depressing our international revenue, resulting in revenue-as-forecast. We expect viewing to decline and membership growth to decelerate as home confinement ends, which we hope is soon.”

To help encourage people to continue staying home, the streaming service also made 10 of its documentaries free to stream on YouTube. Among the selections include Chasing Coral, Knock Down the House, Period. End of Sentence., The White Helmet and Zion. There are also a few docuseries, including Abstract Season 1, the full Our Planet series along with select episodes of Babies and Explained.

The project is also aimed at helping students adjust to learning at home, Netflix also announced that “we’ll be doing Q-and-As with some of the creators behind these projects so that students can hear from them firsthand. We hope this will, in a small way, help teachers around the world.”