Dear readers, this probably won’t come as a shock: Bridgerton was the talk of the town in May. With its season three debut, the Netflix jewel took the throne for Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming shows for May 13-19 with a staggering 2.76 billion minutes of watch-time — but it wasn’t only a win with viewership. According to a May analysis of the streaming video landscape from CreatorIQ, the series powered 15% of Netflix’s total Earned Media Value (EMV) for the month. EMV is CreatorIQ’s metric for quantifying the estimated value of consumer engagement with digital earned media. 

In total, Netflix received $149.2 million EMV — an 82% increase from April — putting it in first place among video streaming platforms for overall EMV and month-over-month growth. Prime Video was a distant second for video streamers ($42 million EMV), followed by Max ($38.8 million) and Hulu ($30.7 million).  

A variety of programming fueled Netflix’s momentum, including The Roast of Tom Brady, which garnered two million viewers during its three-hour live airing on May 5 alone. Buzz around the upcoming boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson also contributed to EMV — although that fight has now been delayed until November 15 due to a medical issue with Tyson. On the scripted side of things, Jenna Ortega made waves with her teaser post about production kicking off for Wednesday season two. 

But none of that came close to Bridgerton, mentions of which generated a notable $23.5 million EMV for Netflix. The series also accounted for two of the top three hashtags by EMV (only #Netflix was ahead), with #Bridgerton generating $16.4 million EMV and #BridgertonSeason3 delivering $6.8 million. 

Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Bridgerton, has also benefited from buzz around the third season, which centers on her character. Her Instagram followers have more than doubled since January 2024, and she has an “exemplary” engagement rate of 12.32% on the platform. According to CreatorIQ, only 2.28% of Instagram accounts can claim engagement like that. Even more impressive is her audience growth on TikTok — up 25x since January — although her 13.58% engagement rate on the platform is just considered “good” by CreatorIQ.  

Although live and sports-related content is increasingly becoming a tool used by streaming platforms to attract viewers and reduce churn, it’s clear that tentpole scripted programming is still a crucial part of the TV marketing playbook. And while actual premieres spark notable engagement, announcements and teasers like the Wednesday one cited above are fueling momentum for platforms, months or even years before a debut.