Image: The Problem with Jon Stewart, Apple TV+
The first week of April 01 - 07 came around with several shows shuffling through the rankings and the perennially popular Spongebob Squarepants taking back its throne at the top of the rankings from South Park, which fell to second place. The switch occurred as a result of the latter gaining a 6% increase in demand while South Park saw its audience demand fall by 12% concurrently. Both shows are still head to head although it’s likely that Spongebob will remain at the top with its usual stable level of demand while South Park will continue to slip after its season 26 ended on March 29.
Two shows that had a double digit increase in demand (+14% for both) and climbed up the rankings to take fifth and sixth place this week, were The Flash and Saturday Night Live. The increase in demand for The Flash came after episode 8 from season 9 aired on April 05. The reason for the increase seems to be two-fold since firstly, it is the last episode to air this week before the show goes on hiatus until the last week of April. Secondly, right after episode 8 aired, the network released new images showing the Stephen Amell back in action as Green Arrow among other Arrow-verse characters that are set to join The Flash in this final season from the next episode onwards. The CW’s promo strategy evidently worked, as we see U.S. audience demand for the series placing it at 61.6x the average this week. Not far behind was NBC’s SNL with 60.6x the average series demand, after the show returned to screens after its two week hiatus between episodes. As mentioned last week, the show had already seen a small spike in demand prior to its comeback episode which aired on April 01.
YTV’s My Hero Academia and MBS’s Attack on Titan both had a 7% and 4% decline in demand that saw the anime series fall to seventh and tenth place respectively. On the other hand, The Simpsons and Game of Thrones (which was the only show that held on to its position from last week) both had a minor 6% and 4% increase in demand. The increase in demand for the animated series comes after speculations that the show had once again predicted real-life events three decades ago, surfaced following the former President’s indictment and subsequent arrest last week. We also expect to see another increase in demand when it returns to screens after a month-long break on April 23. Meanwhile, the spike in interest for GoT comes after news broke last week that HBO is currently discussing a new prequel series centered around Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros. Shortly after this was public knowledge, the show became 55.3x more in demand than the average series in the U.S. this week.
The streaming original ranking also saw an old favourite return to the top of the chart this week. Netflix’s Stranger Things took first place back from Disney+’s The Mandalorian after a 6% increase in demand pushed it up the ranking and made it 64.6x more in demand than the average show this week. The spike in demand for the show came right after the writers teased the possible return of fan favourite character Eddie Munson on April 01, likely an April Fool’s joke.
Ted Lasso and Star Trek: Picard both retained their positions in third and fourth place this week, despite seeing minor decreases in demand. On the other hand, Netflix’s The Night Agent continued its climb up the ranking after a spectacular debut week, as it saw a further 9% increase in demand which pushed it up to sixth place this week. It was followed by Apple TV+’s The Problem with Jon Stewart in seventh place with 35.2x the demand average. The 13% increase in demand for the series came the day the finale episode of the current season titled “Trump Indicted” aired on April 07, where he discusses the indictment of former President Trump and the U.S. justice system.
In eighth and ninth place this week we see Daisy Jones & The Six and You slide down the ranking as a result of a 25% and 6% decline in demand respectively. Rounding out the streaming original ranking this week we see a new entrant - Disney+’s Star Wars: The Bad Batch in tenth place with 27.9x the average series demand. The series saw a minor 2% spike in demand right after its season 2 finale aired on March 29, which contained a twist that apparently left many viewers feeling ‘emotionally wrecked’.
