Iron Fist has been the victim of verbal lashing for weeks from critics and fans alike. The series has been panned for everything from lackluster kung-fu to a just plain boring story, so its unofficial viewing numbers may surprise you. While, again, they aren't official, these viewing statistics for Marvel's Iron Fist show that it's very, very popular.
Iron Fist is so popular, in fact, that research firm 7park Data is heralding it as the "most binge-watched show" on Netflix this year. Variety tells us that the viewing statistics 7park is showing, if accurate, are insane. The data tells us that the day of the show's premiere (March 17th) showed 54.7% of the Iron Fist streams were of episode 3 or higher. That means over half of those who viewed the series the first day watched at least 3 episodes, if not more. While that stat alone is pretty impressive, the viewership stat might floor you.
7park data goes further to say that on March 17th 14.6% of the total streaming for the day was for Iron Fist. That statistic, if true, would put the total day one viewership of Iron Fist above the premiere of Luke Cage and the Season 2 premiere of Daredevil. Considering the amount of hype that was behind Season 2 of Daredevil, I find that incredibly shocking given the internet's reaction following the release of Iron Fist. Is it possible the critics got this one wrong?
Sure, it's possible, but we also want to approach this data with skepticism. 7park Data offers a lot of statistics with their info, but no information as to how they collected this data from under Netflix's nose. That's not to discredit them, but, with no information regarding demographics or methods of collection, it's really hard to say how valid the data is. For example, collecting sound or images via streaming on certain platforms is a much more reliable source of info than an internet survey poll that asks, "Did you watch Iron Fist?" Critics have gotten shows wrong before so I don't doubt that could be the case, I'm just genuinely curious as to how this data was collected as it's so shocking and doesn't match up with what I've seen online.
Netflix has yet to offer any concrete data regarding the show, but if they do, we'll be sure to confirm or deny this news. You can check out our thoughts on Iron Fist here, which, admittedly, aren't too positive. I guess the good news is that if these unofficial numbers are true, we'll definitely see Marvel leaning towards a yes on Season 2. If you've finished Iron Fist, be sure to hit up our midseason premiere guide and summer premiere schedule and find a new show to watch. Who knows, it could be yet another show that critics could be wrong about.
