Image: Grey’s Anatomy, ABC
While streaming / subscription-video-on-demand growth continues to accelerate, the relationship between SVOD content consumption and free-to-air TV is relatively complementary; households are likely to subscribe to both SVOD services as well as free-to-air content. Parrot Analytics’ global demand measurement system captures the popularity of series available on either linear and SVOD, allowing for the comparison of content popularity regardless of platform.
This week, no new Digital Original Series debuted in our US charts and Star Trek: Discovery from CBS All Access still dominates both charts this week. The sci-fi drama series had 1.6 times the demand compared to Stranger Things. Reception to Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season has been mixed since it premiered back in September 2017. However, its two-month mid-season break might have made a significant difference for the Star Trek franchise’s first foray into the golden age of television with its well-paced storytelling and complex characters with deadly secrets. It is of special note that “non-traditional science fiction” series made up more than half of the top ten Digital Original titles. These dramas deal with themes like:
- Time-traveling (Travelers at #10)
- Oppression (The Handmaid’s Tale at #9)
- Adolescence and the loss of childhood (Stranger Things at #2, Marvel’s Runaways at #5, and Dark at #7)
- What might happen if technological development, and our seemingly innocuous digital habits, were taken too far (Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror at #3).
In the overall chart, Game of Thrones lost its second position compared to last week and dropped to #5. In its place, The Walking Dead had 26% more demand compared to Shameless. Making a return to the chart is ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy after its leading actor extended her contract to star and produce the medical drama with season 15 and 16. The series also has the highest increase in demand in successive weeks compared to all other series in the chart.
