‘Tiger King’ Did ‘Stranger Things’-Level Ratings For Netflix

Well, you’ve gone and done it, America. We are never going to be finished with the terrible people from Tiger King. They’re all awful, and apparently we just can’t get enough. It should come as no surprise the bizarre docuseries was #1 most-viewed for Netflix over the last couple of weeks, but what may surprise you is just how well it did. We’re talking Stranger Things numbers.

According to Variety, Tiger King scored  a “U.S. TV audience of 34.3 unique viewers within the first 10 days of its release (March 20-29), according to Nielsen estimates.” Those numbers surpass the 31.2 million uniques of Stranger Things 2. Damn. It falls short of the 36.3 million of Stranger Things 3, but whoever would’ve guessed it would be so close?

The thing is, Tiger King didn’t even start off that hot. Debuting on March 20th, the big cat series reached about 740,000 unique viewers before absolutely exploding due to the national buzz. People heard about the incredible story of Joe Exotic, the mulleted owner of a big cat zoo with his gay marriage to two straight dudes, a murderous obsession with animal activist Carole Baskin, a truck full of expired Walmart deli meat, a surreal pop music career, and they just HAD to watch. Hey, I’m in the club, too. Watched the entire thing in about a day. I feel horrible about myself, too.

And so now what? Well, more Tiger King, of course!!! Unconfirmed reports are there’s an extra episode airing on Netflix this week, plus Investigation Discovery has a sequel series on the way. Oh yeah, and Kate McKinnon is starring in a TV adaptation. Like I said, we’ll never be done with these people.

SOURCEVariety
Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.