Image: Cobra Kai, YouTube Premium
Once again, it is time for our weekly look at the most demanded series in the United States, including digital TV demand. Starting at number one, Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants cruises into another week at the very top of the chart. Compared to the average series in the USA, the cartoon has 101.5 times as much demand from American audiences.
Nearly a month after the release of Season 2, demand for Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy has cooled further. Against the market, demand has decreased by 19.6% to 79.4 times average. This means that compared to last week’s chart, The Umbrella Academy moves down one rank to third. This places it behind the consistently highly-demanded anime My Hero Academia.
The fastest rising series in the overall US top ten this week is Netflix’s Lucifer. TV demand for the supernatural drama rose 54.1% week-on-week to 4, elevating it to rank fourth. The strong increase in demand for Lucifer follows the release of the first half of Season 5 on August 21st.
Despite slipping in the overall chart, The Umbrella Academy remains the most demanded digital original series in America. Not far behind The Umbrella Academy this week is Lucifer. The increase in demand from the new season puts Lucifer second on this chart, up from last week’s fourth. If these trajectories continue, we could see these shows switch positions next week.
The fastest rising series on the digital original chart this week is YouTube Premium’s Cobra Kai. Since debuting three years ago in August 2017, Cobra Kai has only been available on YouTube Premium. However, in an almost unprecedented move for the industry the digital original series was added to the library of a different streaming platform this week. This comes after YouTube Premium pivoted away from scripted original content, with Netflix acquiring the rights to Cobra Kai. As of August 28th, US audiences can now watch Cobra Kai on Netflix. Digital TV demand for the series grew by 110.7% against the market average following this. Netflix also acquired the rights to make Cobra Kai Season 3, which will be released as a Netflix original series in 2021. Based on the US response to the addition of Seasons 1 and 2 to Netflix, Season 3 could well end up as the most demanded season yet.
Closing out this week’s rankings, DC Universe’s Harley Quinn also returns to top ten. This is another digital original that became available on another streaming platform after launch, although in this case DC Universe and HBO Max are part of the same corporate family. Digital TV demand for Harley Quinn rose 21.6% against the market from last week, moving from twelfth to seventh. This movement comes after the show was featured at the DC Fandome virtual event on August 22nd. However, fans hoping for Harley Quinn Season 3 were disappointed with no confirmation of a renewal announced at the event.
