The first three days of Berlin already demonstrated that Netflix had made the right decision by resurrecting the villain of Money Heist for a prequel: the eight episodes accumulated 11.3 million views (a total of 74.3 million hours). In a way it was predictable: they were holidays, there was hardly any competition and the character of Pedro Alonso was recognizable by the audience of the platform, which had catapulted the Professor’s robbery series as one of the most watched series in the non-English language. The data from the second season, however, confirm that it was not a one-day flower.
In its second week, in which seven days of viewing are counted (instead of the three of the previous one, having premiered on Friday), it has added another 22.3 million viewings (that is, 146.4 million hours watched ). This means that in just ten days it has accumulated the equivalent of 33.6 million views of the entire season. Considering that Netflix has 247 million users worldwide, it is at 13.6% of its global subscriber base.
Let us remember that, for example, an American production must be seen by 20% of subscribers in its country in 90 days for it to be considered a success and to obtain additional compensation for its performance, which translates into a bonus of between 9,000 and $16,400 per episode for the writers. So, using the metric agreed upon between the studios and the US writers’ union, Berlin is on track to reach the magical 20% that turns the production into a phenomenon in just 10 days.
Berlin, which this time tells the past of Pedro Alonso as a hopeless romantic who wants to carry out the biggest jewel robbery in history in Paris, has another beneficial side effect for the company: the first season of La casa de papel has entered again on the list of Netflix’s most viewed productions in tenth position with 1.5 million views and 15.2 million hours viewed. The value of Berlin, therefore, also lies in encouraging the consumption of already profitable content and retaining the viewer in the catalogue.
The Berlin figures, of course, do not reach the extraordinary audiences of La casa de papel in its last season. On December 3, 2021, the final four episodes premiered and, after accounting for consumption data from the first three days on the platform, it accumulated 189.9 million hours watched. A brutality.
The audiences for the prequel, however, justify the possibility of renewal. Pina, Lobato and Netflix got it right by writing a season that worked both as a miniseries and as a series with continuity, leaving the ending open to the execution of new heists. It is a matter of time before a second season is announced.
