New data revealed promising viewership numbers for Only Murders in the Building Season 3's premiere.
Only Murders in the Building returned for a third season on Hulu, anchored by familiar faces and new stars led by Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep.
The new episodes revolve around the main trio's quest (Charles, Oliver, and Mabel) to solve the mystery behind the death of Rudd's character, Ben.
Only Murders in the Building Season 3's Viewership Breakdown
Whip Media reported the ranking of the top streaming shows in the United States during the week of August 7-13 across all streamers.
In the official list, Only Murders in the Building Season 3 ranked as the #1 show in terms of viewership, beating the likes of Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New World (which aired its Season 2 finale on August 10) and Prime Video's The Summer I Turned Pretty (which premiered the penultimate episode of Season 2 on August 11):
- Only Murders in the Building Season 3 (Hulu)
- Star Trek: Strange New World (Paramount+)
- The Summer I Turned Pretty (Prime Video)
- Futurama (Hulu)
- And Just Like That… (Max)
- Special Ops: Lioness (Paramount+)
- Foundation (Apple TV+)
- Harley Quinn (Max)
- Afterparty (Apple TV+)
- The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix)
As per Samba TV, Only Murders in the Building's Season 3 premiere was watched by 669k households in the United States in its first six days on Hulu.
SambaTV estimates total viewership based on data analyzed from 28 million TVs in the U.S. and 46 million worldwide.
Data showed that viewership for the Season 3 premiere increased to 14% from Season 2's debut. In July 2022, Samba TV revealed that 627k domestic households watched Season 2's premiere during its first week.
Only Murders in the Building Season 1's debut, via Samba TV, was watched by 948k domestic households during its first week on Hulu. In the United Kingdom, 33k households tuned in on Disney+.
For comparison, here are the opening viewership figures of other shows from different streaming services. Some of these shows record data over different lengths of time:
- The Handmaid's Tale Season 4 - 1 million domestic households (May 2021)
- The Dropout - 499k (March 2022)
- MODOK - 132k (May 2021)
- Tiny Beautiful Things - 230k (April 2023)
- The Kardashians - 813k (April 2022)
Is Only Murders in the Building Season 3 a Success?
Based on the data, the viewership numbers of Only Murders in the Building Season 3 are higher compared to Season 2.
This is promising due to the fact that marketing for the third season was affected by the ongoing actors' strike since the cast was not able to promote its release due to strike rules.
It's possible that viewership numbers will increase in the coming weeks (episodes are being released weekly on Hulu), considering the mystery surrounding the killer's identity will slowly be unveiled.
It remains to be seen if Only Murders in the Building Season 3 will be deemed a success based on this current number.
If Hulu ends up renewing the series for a fourth season, then the high viewership number could ultimately be one of the factors behind that decision.
Only Murders in the Building Season 3 is now streaming on Hulu.
