The Crown season 3: Netflix reveals surge in viewing figures for Olivia Colman’s series

Netflix has revealed the viewing figures for The Crown for the first time, showing that more fans flocked to watch the series starring Olivia Colman’s turn as the Queen than any of the previous seasons.

According to the figures, a total of 73m households worldwide have watched the royal drama since it began in 2016.

The third season, which stars Colman as the monarch, was watched in 21m homes in its first four weeks, a 40% increase on the amount of people who saw the second season, featuring Claire Foy, over the same time period.

Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the figures proved The Crown's "popularity grows with each new season" and fans have made the show “part of the global cultural zeitgeist”.

The only other show for which Netflix has revealed overall viewing data is Orange is the New Black, which was watched by 105m homes over its first six seasons.

Netflix has not broken down its viewing figures for The Crown by country.

The fourth season of The Crown is currently filming. The show’s producer recently revealed it is not likely to ever cover current events such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping down as senior royals, or the Prince Andrew scandal.