If you've ever been tempted to doubt just how massive Netflix really is, occasionally some actual numbers will come along to put things into perspective. And boy can they be big, big numbers.
After all, when you hear that Bridgerton has been a huge success for the streamer, it can be a little difficult to know exactly what that means relative to other shows. Thankfully, some new stats have underlined just how unbelievably big the show is – Forbes has reported that the show's third season racked up a staggering 9.3 billion viewing minutes in June this year. That equates to over 1,900 years of non-stop watching. Blimey!
That's a lot of time, so much that it's impossible to really envision just how big it is – but it's made easier by some comparisons. Take The Boys, for example, which is touted as a big show for Amazon Prime Video and also had a new season start in June. It was watched for 4 billion minutes – which is less than half of what Bridgerton racked up.
House of the Dragon, meanwhile, managed 3.4 billion minutes, showing that even a show as culturally powerful as HBO's swords-and-sandals drama pales by comparison to Netflix's romantic phenomenon.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Netflix is looking to capitalise on its success – it just confirmed the news that anyone could have guessed: Bridgerton will get a fourth season. A short teaser trailer announced the news – which you can watch above – without any hint of a release date.
But it did go so far as to confirm whose romantic affair the season will revolve around. This time around it's the turn of Benedict Bridgerton, who's been a player on the sidelines for a while now. Indeed, this marks a bit of a change – Benedict will be the first male character to be the centre of a season-long main storyline so far.
So, fans of the show clearly have a lot to look forward to – and it's perfectly possible that there will be more spinoffs before the next season actually arrives. In the meantime, Netflix will presumably be hoping it can find another show to deliver the same sort of crazy numbers, to cement itself as not just the biggest but also the best streaming service on the market.
