EXCLUSIVE: Launched simultaneously this week across Scandinavia, the opening episode of the third season of The Bridge (Bron/Broen) had a stronger opening than the previous season with viewers across Denmark, Sweden, Norway Finland totalling 3.330.000 against 3.032.000 for Season 2.
“We are absolutely thrilled by the results, said Filmlance International‘s Anders Landström who produced the show with his Danish colleague Bo Ehrhardt from Nimbus Film. “We were hoping to match the numbers of Season 2, although less people watch linear TV today than two years ago. But we’ve done even better!”
Aired simultaneously on SVT1, DR1, YLE1 on Sunday September 27 and the following day on NRK1 and RUV, the returning season of the crime show created by Hans Rosenfeldt received overall very good reviews in the local media that welcomed the consistent Nordic noir style and greater focus on the intriguing Saga Nóren (Sofia Helin), assisted by her new Danish partner Henrik Sabroe (Thure Lindhardt).
According to figures provided by Filmlance International, Swedish fans of the series have continued to grow, season after season. With 1.4 million viewers, the first episode of Season 3 beat the opening episode of Season 1 by 459.000 and Season 2 by 268.000, with the percentage of overnight ratings growing for Seasons 1-2-3 from 11.4 to 13.3 and 15.8 percent respectively.
In Denmark, Season 3 opener was followed by 839.000 people, up from Season 2 (818.000) but down from Season 1 (876.000). In Finland as well the premiere of the latest season locked in more viewers than season 2 (425.000 vs 365.000).
Norway was the only Scandinavian territory where Season 3 had a weaker launch than the previous season (577.000 against 631.000), although Season 1 started the slowest with 563.000. But the latest season of The Bridge on NRK1 met tough competition from the reality show Farmen watched on TV2 by 602.000 Norwegians.
At press time no data was available for Season 3’s premiere on RUV in Iceland.
The Bridge Season 3 will now premiere in other territories, such as Germany (ZDF) and the UK (BBC). ZDF Enterprises which had licenced Season 1 to more than 160 territories will introduce the latest season at the upcoming MIPCOM in Cannes.