‘Only Murders in the Building’ was a hit for Hulu

Photo: Craig Blankenhorn / HULU

We already knew Hulu’s Only murder in the building it went well, but now the Disney-owned streamer is getting a little more specific about the show’s success. The half-hour crime mystery from the sister studio 20th Television “is by far the most watched comedy ever on Hulu,” Hulu Originals president Craig Erwich told Vulture this week. And yes, a company representative clarifies that the measurement includes individual seasons with library content such as The Golden Girls as well as next day streams of network series.

Although Hulu does not release specific tracks for any title, and streaming ratings generally come with a host of stars attached, in the case of Only murder, lots of third-party evidence points to the show’s success.

The Steve Martin-Martin Short-Selena Gomez comedy has been a fixture in Nielsen’s weekly streaming top ten since its first three episodes dropped at once in late August, counting nearly half a billion minutes of viewership over the opening weekend. and pulled several Netflix series with more available hours of content. This is consistent with the information that Hulu released just after the show’s premiere, when the streamer said Only murder had generated its largest audience ever for a comedy premiere. Erwich said the series continued to fetch viewership from there. “Every week, when a new episode would come, the audience just built,” he said. “You saw word of mouth grow.”

Parrot Analytics, which measures global and domestic performance of streaming content via its demand index, backs Hulus’ growth requirements for Only murder. The company tells Vulture that when the series debuted on August 31, it had about 16 times the audience demand in the United States as an average show. But when the season-1 finale fell last week, the show generated 37 times the typical demand – a massive growth rate of 135 percent from where the series started, good enough to land it among the top 0.2 percent of all titles Parrot numbers. Measured in relation to the thousands of titles Only murder ranked as the 14th most requested show in the United States last Wednesday, the day after the finale.

Hulu has already ordered another season of Only murder, and Erwich confirmed that filming will begin on the new season next month. He said the show’s success is “what you get when you’re in business with unique talent”, such as the show’s stars and executive producers Dan Fogelman (This is us) and John Hoffman. And while Erwich said the show’s tone is “extremely specific,” he added, “This is also a show that has something for everyone, different characters to get into the show through. It invites a lot of people in and delivers like something for “It’s an ideal show for us.” Critics seem to agree: As Erwich pointed out, the series has a 100 percent certified “fresh” placement on Rotten Tomatoes.

While the external data supports Hulus’ claim Only murder is the streamer’s greatest comedy ever, it should be noted that like almost all streaming “ratings” offered by platforms, this has not been independently verified and is not easily comparable to the numbers that have long been used to measure linear television. programs or the cinema box office. Streaming is also growing fast, with tens of thousands of American consumers now subscribing to various platforms compared to even two or three years ago – including Hulu. So at one level, it’s a little easier for programs to gather record audiences, as the universe of available viewers is much larger. On the other hand, competition has grown even more exponentially, which means it’s also harder for programs to stand out and get viewers’ immediate attention. Still, no matter what reservations you want to make, it seems clear that Only murder in the building is a big, bloody hit for Hulu.