Tiger King Sets New Viewership Records

Tiger King is the king of Netflix. Research company Nielsen has reported that the true crime show, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, has set a new record for Netflix when it comes to streaming minutes, at least in the US.

Nielsen says that the show reached 5.3 billion minutes of streaming over its first seven days (March 23-29), according to The Hollywood Reporter. That's more than any other show in Netflix's history. More precisely, Nielsen said the 5.3 billion minutes streamed over its first week is 50 percent more than Ozark's 3.5 billion minutes.

Additionally, Tiger King had more minutes watched overall than any other program on Netflix or Amazon for its launch week, despite having only seven episodes. An eighth episode, an "aftershow" hosted by Joel McHale called The Tiger King and I, was released on April 12 and it was extremely popular, too. Nielsen's data showed that this episode beat the best single-day viewership for the entire series in the first 10 days, reaching an average of 4.6 million people on its first day. This eclipses the average of the entire series, 4.06 million, in the week after launch.

Nielsen's numbers are not necessarily accurate and definitely not a complete representation of the reach of a show. That's because the figures only count audiences in the United States who watch programming on a connected TV. Still, it's clear from these numbers--and from all the memes--that Tiger King has broken through to become one of the network's most popular shows.

On a more serious note, authorities in Florida are seeking new leads in the case of the disappearance of Tiger King subject Carole Baskin's former husband, Don Lewis, who vanished under mysterious circumstances in 1997.

In other news, a new adaptation of Tiger King is reportedly in development, from Rob Lowe and Glee creator Ryan Murphy. Lowe will play Joe Exotic, while Kate McKinnon is reportedly in talks to play Carole Baskin, according to Deadline. This is on top of the Tiger King follow-up show.