“The Swarm” has set a media library record. This is shown by the AGF Videoforschung streaming charts for March of this year. Accordingly, the net reach of the first part of the series was 1.694 million viewers.
As the industry magazine “Meedia” calculates, no program has had better access figures in a German-language media center since the changeover to a new recording method by AGF. Since “The Swarm” started in the ZDF media library at the end of February, the absolute numbers are even higher.
The three other episodes of the multi-part series based on the bestseller by Frank Schätzing (65) also clearly exceeded the million mark. Part 2 got a reach of 1.563 million. Episode 3 achieved 1.571 and Episode 4 1.308 million. The calculation was based on the TV broadcast in four double episodes and not after eight individual episodes.
AGF Videoforschung has been recording the net reach of media library programs for two years. This means that each access is only counted once per user. Multiple uses are not recorded.
At the beginning of March, the second German television reported that “Der Schwarm” is the most successful format in the history of the ZDF media library.
The success is all the more remarkable as the template author Frank Schätzing (65) publicly criticized the series before it was broadcast on TV. “It pilchers more than it raves,” the author criticized, referring to the kitschy film adaptations of Rosamunde Pilcher’s novels. The thriller adaptation was also too shallow for many viewers.
Nevertheless, a strong 6.82 million viewers tuned in to the premiere on linear television on March 6 of this year.
