Tiger King becomes one of Netflix’s biggest ever shows as viewing figures surge during lockdown

Show about the extraordinary incidents at Joe Exotic's zoo has proved hugely popular

Tiger King has reportedly achieved more streaming minutes in its first full week of release than any other show.

The Netflix documentary explores the extraordinary story of Joe Exotic, who owned hundreds of tigers, lions, bears and other exotic animals at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park (also known as the GW Zoo) in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

Exotic, born Joseph Allen Schreibvogel, is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted on charges including animal abuse and two counts of murder-for-hire, the latter for a plot to kill his rival, Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, data from Nielsen shows that, despite only having seven episodes, Tiger King fans watched more than 5.3bn minutes of the show between 23 to 29 March.

The figure is more than 50 per cent higher than the next most-watched show, Ozark, which achieved 3.5bn minutes’ worth of streams.

Nielsen also revealed that viewers streamed 169.9bn minutes of content in the week of 6 April, the most since the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic in mid-March.

Tiger King is, overall, one of Netflix’s biggest shows to date and has been the subject of intense debate among fans on social media.

A number of the series’ stars have spoken out to offer their views on the show and the incidents it covers.

Exotic recently conducted an interview from prison, which you can read about here.