Image: One Piece, Netflix
2023 saw plenty of new television series dominating the market. Whether it was from an established IP like HBO’s The Last of Us or Disney’s Secret Invasion or if it was the hype of animated series crossing over to live-action like Disney’s Ahsoka or Netflix’s One Piece, some of the strongest premiers were from the Science-Fiction / Fantasy genre.
In-Demand Series Debut Comparison - Worldwide
Included in Parrot Analytics’ 6th Global Demand Awards is the category for most In-Demand Series Debut of 2023. These are the series where the demand far exceeded the average and fueled each of the series’ success. Netflix’s One Piece, a live-action adaptation of the hit Anime series, stood atop the totem pole in terms of worldwide demand with the series debut commanding an exceptional 85.4 times the average demand.
Another big debut from 2023 was that of HBO’s The Last of Us. The staying power of the series has been phenomenal, but initial demand for the series fell behind its contemporaries. It launched with 39 times the average demand, but worldwide it couldn’t match the demand for Disney titles like Ahsoka (44.1x) or Secret Invasion (77.5x).
The biggest surprise comes from Amazon Prime Video’s Citadel. The Richard Madden-starring vehicle did sensational numbers considering it's an original IP. When it premiered, Citadel’s demand was an outstanding 27.1x. It doesn’t share the numbers that some of the others in this category, but it's quite an achievement.
In-Demand Series Debut Comparison - United States
Changing the scope of the data to only include the United States and the data paints a very similar picture. Netflix's One Piece, Disney’s Ahsoka, and Disney’s Secret Invasion continued to command the most demand when their seasons launched. Amazon Prime Video’s Citadel had less of a demand in the United States, coming in at 16.3x the average.
Audience Demo for In-Demand Series of 2023
The majority of these titles are based on an existing IP, which would certainly influence their demand, but something else stands out among these five titles. Each one of them has connections to the Science-Fiction / Fantasy genre. This genre continues to bring in audiences (a majority of them being men) in big numbers. Unsurprisingly Gen Z continues to fuel the audience for these series as well-- A massive 49% of the audience of Netflix’s One Piece comes from that age group.
It’s likely that the Science-Fiction / Fantasy genre will continue to bring in big numbers in 2024– Netflix is hoping the trend will continue when they launch their Avatar: The Last Airbender series. If it has the demand anywhere close to what One Piece achieved, it’ll probably be one of the biggest titles of the year. Expect other streaming services to chase those debut numbers into 2024.
