Image: Good Omens, Amazon Prime Video
A handful of new and returning titles populate the digital and overall charts in the first full week of June. Stranger Things and Game of Thrones continue to dominate at the top of the chart, however, while content demand for the 1985 set Stranger Things grew in demand (+3.3%), that of Thrones fell (-36.0%). As always, let us now investigate the U.S. domestic TV market as we do every week.
When They See Us, the Central Park Five-focused Ava DuVernay limited series, is ranked second on the originals chart. On May 31st, Ms. DuVernay’s four-episode When They See Us was released on Netflix to positive reviews. With 52.4 million in daily demand, the streaming giant has Emmy season hopes for the series, which Ms. DuVernay co-wrote and directed. Out of all the new titles, When They See Us has experienced the highest surge in demand week-on-week (+170%) as audiences discover that the five exonerated men sued New York City in 2003.
Netflix has confirmed that Lucifer has been renewed for a fifth and final season and we have observed an increase in content demand (+4.1%). As the only procedural series on our digital chart, the show has enjoyed a steady rise in demand throughout its fourth season which debuted on the streaming service in early May, with new episodes coming in 2020.
Charlie Brooker’s mind-bending sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror returns for a fifth season on Netflix, with a 68.3% increase in demand compared to last week. In the follow up to last year’s choose-your-own-adventure interactive movie, Bandersnatch, Mr. Brooker opts for the back-to-basics approach for the fifth season. The new season only has three episodes, while season 3 and season 4 each had six episodes.
Hulu’s intimate and personal third season of The Handmaid’s Tale drove a 39.5% increase in demand as Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel has long since been left behind for these new batch of episodes. Like the previous two seasons, The Handmaid’s Tale airs weekly on Hulu.
Another series that is based on a novel (and based on near-fidelity to the source in the first series) is Amazon Prime Video’s Good Omens. The six-part miniseries stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant as angels and demons aiming to prevent the apocalypse. Good Omens’ ranking has increased from No. 16 to No. 6 with 34.9 million in daily demand measured.
Lastly, American comic book fans were surprised when it was announced that DC Universe’s live-action Swamp Thing series (ranked tenth) would not be picked up for a second season – the news came but a week after its premiere.
Swamp Thing was the third show to launch on DC Universe after Titans and Doom Patrol both enjoyed successful launches. News that the show would not be picked up for a second season came on Thursday, only two months after the announcement that the show’s episode order would be reduced from 13 to 10. Eight episodes remain and will continue to drop as scheduled, every Friday through August.
In the overall chart, Game of Thrones and Spongebob Squarepants have not changed in the rankings and two Netflix titles, Stranger Things and When They See Us, also make it onto the overall chart. Now in its 14th season, NBC’s America’s Got Talent has a new host and is ranked tenth; its audience grew slightly compared to last week’s season opener (a daily demand of 50 million vs. 47 million).
