COBRA KAI (L to R) RALPH MACCHIO as DANIEL LARUSSO, ELISABETH SHUE as ALI MILLS, and WILLIAM ZABKA … [+]
CURTIS BONDS BAKER / NETFLIX
It’s official. Season 3 of Netflix Cobra Kai 2021 was launched as one of the most-seen original series on a streaming platform.
Second only to Netflix’s Bridgerton, the Karate Kid Series sequences by William Zabka and Ralph Macchio drew 2.6 billion minutes of viewing in the ‘original’ streaming segment. The number was only slightly below Netflix’s popular drama Bridgerton.
That’s according to Nielsen’s rankings released Thursday for the first official week of 2021, covering December 28, 2020 to Jan. 3, 2021. Cobra Kai first on 1 January.
“Heavy heavy starting in the early 1800s moving into the early 1980s with Bridgerton and Cobra Kai, both over 2.6 billion minutes watching and so much attention at the top of the list and nothing more than a billion minutes later… ”explained Brian Fuhrer, senior vice president, production strategy for Nielsen. Fuhrer noted that the 6.5-billion-week holiday scene briefs were driven by the previously announced film and the animated film Pixar Anam on Disney +.
“Very amazing,” Fuhrer said.
Among other products that made up the top 10 Cooling Sabrina events at 961 million minutes of viewing, The Crown with 797 minutes and the only non-Netflix program on the original list Am Mandalorian at 707 minutes.
Virgin River, Queen’s Gambit, Death to 2020, Great British Baking Show and Survivor named accurate list.
Rankings include Disney + and Hulu platforms as well as Amazon and Netflix.
Continuation of the Sony Pictures Television film franchise, which started with the original one An Karate Kid a film in 1984, on a hugely successful two-season run, before Netflix updated the sequel Cobra Kai for a fourth quarter.
The show, which will be held some 35 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Championship, began as an original YouTube and gained a large audience with over 55 million YouTube views of its first program. At the same time it won rave reviews from critics. When YouTube could not continue as the show’s platform, Netflix struck a deal with Sony Television, ordering a fourth quarter of the popular series. The agreement also included exclusive rights to Season 3 and access to the first two seasons.
This time around, the struggle between The Karate Kid characters are first described from the perspective of Johnny Lawrence (played by Zabka). Lawrence, who thinks his best days are behind him, is finding new meaning by bringing new students under his wing.
Since its first release in August, the action drama written and produced by Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, has been one of the service’s premier streaming shows. The series broke Netflix’s record last fall for non-original and was considered one of Netflix’s most streaming shows.