Parrot Analytics title movement reports reveal which series have had a serious impact on a market’s audience during the quarter.
The key questions investigated in this report include:
1. Which new series (Season 1) had the strongest debut among British audiences?
2. Which debut or pre-existing series gained the most audience attention in the United Kingdom from October to November?
3. Which debut or pre-existing series gained the most audience attention in the United Kingdom from November to December?
Which new titles had the strongest debut?
In the UK, two titles were in contention for strongest new debut in Q4 2019. In the end, demand for Netflix’s The Witcher was higher than demand for Disney+’s The Mandalorian, although both are vastly outpacing the rest of the market. This is despite the fact that Disney+ was not yet available in the UK and so there was no official way to watch the Star Wars series.
Four titles from the UK debuted strongly this quarter, with high demand in the first 30 days of the show premiering. The strongest debut of these was BBC One’s His Dark Materials, which premiered on November 3rd and averaged 26 times the demand of the average title in the UK.
A second BBC One drama, The Trial of Christine Keeler, premiered right at end of quarter on December 29th. During its premiere range, it averaged 11 times the demand of the average title. The final BBC debut is RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, an adaptation of popular American format hosted by RuPaul.
The fourth UK debut is Sky Atlantic’s miniseries Catherine the Great. The historical drama starring Helen Mirren was released on October 3rd and performed 11.9 times better than the UK average during its first 30 days.
Which existing or new titles gained the most audience attention from October to November?
The Mandalorian had its global premiere on November 12th when Disney+ launched in the USA and other markets. Although not officially available in the UK, it still enjoyed the single strongest month on month growth between October and November. Demand for the show grew by nearly 30x the UK’s average demand for a title.
Between October and November, His Dark Materials gained the second amount of demand in the UK. Demand for the alternate reality fantasy grew by 18.8 times the UK average. The third largest demand increase this month was for Netflix’s The Crown. Season 3 of the royal drama was released on November 17th, making it the fastest growing returning (Season 2+) series for this period.
The Crown’s rise was just ahead of animated comedy Rick And Morty Season 4, from the USA’s Adult Swim. For the first time in the UK, the new season’s episodes were released free-to-air on Channel 4; previous seasons had their UK debut on Netflix. Channel 4 and Netflix also gained the attention of British audiences with their co-produced drama The End Of The F…ing World, which increased by 8.6x UK average. Season 2 was broadcast in the UK over 4 days on Channel 4 starting on November 4th. Accounting for the fact than in all other markets the show was released all at once on Netflix, after the initial daily broadcast the full boxset was made available on All 4.
Unlike Disney+, Apple TV+ did launch in the UK on November 1st. See increased most out of the Apple originals, gaining 12.9x the average series demand. The Morning Show was not far behind with an 11x increase.
The fastest growing reality series in the UK is I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! Season 19 of the competition reality series began airing n November 18th, prompting an increase of 10 times more than the UK average from the show’s October demand.
Season 2 of Amazon Prime Video’s Britannia was released on November 7th. The UK is one of the strongest markets for Roman Britain-set drama: it is one of the 15 fastest growing shows in this market but did not reach the top 15 globally.
Which existing or new titles gained the most audience attention from November to December?
Impressively, The Mandalorian maintained nearly the same rate of UK demand growth going from November into December, growing in demand by almost as much as it did from October to November. In this period, it’s closely followed by The Witcher, which was available to UK audiences on Netflix.
Between November and December, BBC One's Gavin & Stacey is the strongest returning series in the UK. Demand increased by 10.2x UK average after the sitcom aired a special on Christmas Day, the first new episode for 10 years.
Apple TV+ drama Servant was the fourth fastest growing series in the UK for this period. The psychological horror premiered on November 28th.
Netflix’s You was the strongest returning SVOD series, gaining 9.6 times the demand for the average title in this market for Season 2. It just outranked Amazon Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 3, which gained 9.0.
For more information, check out the most up-to-date United Kingdom television industry overview.
