EXCLUSIVE: It’s been less than 24 hours since One Piece debuted on Netflix, but the buzz surrounding the series already fairly strong.
The 10-episode series launched on the streamer Thursday and, to celebrate, Netflix held fan events in 10 cities around the globe that drew thousands of straw hat pirates. Things kicked off in Los Angeles on August 24 and have traveled across the seas (much like Monkey D. Luffy himself) to hit Paris, Tokyo, Milan, Bangkok and more.
The events are just one part of an extensive campaign that Netflix has launched in support of the manga adaptation, which is expected to be quite popular.
As is expected in 2023, the streamer is also leaning heavily on social media to engage the fandom during launch and throughout the premiere weekend. In addition to its own social media assets, Netflix has also partnered with influencers across the globe to connect with current One Piece fans as well as engage new audiences with the project.
It’s certainly paying off. Ahead of the series’ debut, Netflix hosted a TikTok live countdown that boasted a million viewers across nine countries. Those who tuned in were surprised with the first five minutes of the series on TikTok live.
As a result, the series has also been organically trending on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the UK, Brazil, Thailand, France, Spain and the US. It’s also been trending on Reddit. And, to top things off, One Piece has managed a 94% Audience Score from more than 2,500 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes within hours of launching on Netflix.
Of course, the real test will come next week when Netflix releases viewership data for One Piece‘s premiere weekend. For context, one of Netflix’s recent TV darlings, Wednesday, boasted 341.23M hours viewed in its first week back in November 2022. That would translate to about 43M views (hours viewed divided by total run time), which is how Netflix now reports its audience data.
Even if One Piece doesn’t beat Wednesday, it still has a ton of wiggle room to be considered a success. Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 managed about 286M hours viewed in its premiere week, which is well below Wednesday but is still a hefty total for any Netflix property. Only time will tell where One Piece might fall.
Based on Japan’s highest-selling manga series in history by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a sprawling tale of adventure on the high seas that centers on the character of Monkey D. Luffy, an enthusiastic young man whose singular aspiration is to become King of the Pirates. One Piece is both the name of the manga series and the legendary treasure that Luffy hopes to find so he can become the King of the Pirates.
One Piece is created in partnership with Shueisha and produced by Tomorrow Studios and Netflix. Matt Owens and Steven Maeda are writers, executive producers, and showrunners. Eiichiro Oda, Marty Adelstein, and Becky Clements also executive produce.