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Netflix claims 'The Queen's Gambit' sets the audience records
"The Queen's Gambit" is setting the audience records for Netflix, the streaming service said today.
As all the audience statistics that Netflix revealed this year, these latest figures reflect how many people chose to watch"—in other words, how many people viewed at least two minutes of a show or film. In the case of The Queen's Gambit, there are 62 million households in the first 28 days of broadcast, making Netflix the most successful limited series ever.
You may have seen some of the qualifying there. "Queen's Gambit" beat other limited series, like co-creator Scott Frank's previous show "Godless," but not Netflix's biggest on-going hits, such as The Witcher" (76 million households watched season one). It also fell a little short of the small but unwritten documentary series 'Tiger King,' which hit 64 million households in its first four weeks.
The numbers are also very remarkable for a series of what seems to be a distinctly non-commercial premise, portraying a struggling young woman as she progresses through the ranks of professional chess, finally confronting the Soviet Union's world champion. Yet the series has benefited from outstanding reviews and the fact that it is very interesting.
Its effect can be seen beyond the viewing figures of Netflix. Walter Tevis, a 37-year-old novel based in the New York Times, has become a bestseller, although the sales of chess sets have risen significantly.
Three years ago, when Scott Frank... first approached us about adapting 'Queen's Gambit' Walter Tevis' 1983 book about a young chess prodigy, we thought it was a compelling story, Netflix's vice president of the original series, Peter Friedlander, wrote in a blog post. Beth is an outsider who battles addiction, loss and abandonment. Her success against odds points to the value of perseverance, family, and discovering, and being true to yourself.
