Image: The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu
This week, April 08 - 14 didn’t bring about any significant changes to the overall shows ranking, however the streaming original ranking did see some very interesting movement. Among overall shows, Spongebob Squarepants remained the top show despite a 7% decline in demand, which brought it to 81.7 times the average series demand for the week. South Park followed suit with 79.8 times the demand average, a 7% decline from last week as well. Since South Park’s season finale aired on March 29, and hasn’t announced dates for any new specials or episodes as yet, it is likely that it will slide lower down the ranking as demand drops for the show over the next few weeks.
NBC’s Saturday Night Live was the only show in the overall ranking that had any kind of noticeable change in demand (+3%) this week. However, this isn’t a very significant increase - it tracks with SNL’s usual demand trend when the show is in the midst of releasing episodes. This week’s increase can be attributed to the episode that aired last Saturday, which featured Molly Brown as the host and the Jonas Brothers as the musical guests. The slight spike did lead to the show moving up to take fifth place with 62.2 times the average series demand. Despite a slight 3% decline, YTV’s My Hero Academia also moved up a spot to take sixth place with 56 times the average series demand this week.
After a double digit increase in demand propelled it up the ranking last week, an 8% decrease saw The CW’s The Flash slide down to seventh place this week. The decline could be because the show is on a hiatus until the end of April, so audience attention seems to have moved away from it for now. In eighth and ninth place we see The Simpsons and Game of Thrones hold on to their positions with almost the same level of demand as last week with hardly any change to it. Rounding out the overall top 10 ranking we see MBS’s Attack on Titan in tenth place, with 52.5 times the average series demand, a slight increase from last week.
The streaming original ranking saw a 4% increase lead Disney+’s The Mandalorian once again to the top of the chart, beating down Netflix’s Stranger Things with 65.7 times the average series demand. The spike in demand for the Star Wars show came right after its third season’s penultimate episode aired on April 12. The third, fourth and fifth positions in the ranking remained unchanged this week, as Ted Lasso, Star Trek: Picard and Shadow and Bone retained their positions despite a minor drop in demand for each series.
A surprise spike in demand (+12%) was observed for Netflix’s You this week, likely linked to spoilers of the upcoming season doing the rounds online. The show’s star also revealed the next location Joe Goldberg is headed to, in a recent interview. The uptick in demand saw the the show climb up to sixth place in the ranking with 33 times the average series demand in the U.S. for the week. Apple TV+’s The Problem with Jon Stewart retained its position in seventh place with 31.3 times the average series demand this week, despite a 10% drop. The decline in demand makes sense, since the season has now ended and viewers have not yet been made aware of the dates for the next season.
HBO Max’s Titans was the next high performer this week, with a 15% increase bringing it back into the ranking in eighth place with 29.9 times the average series demand. The increase in demand was rather expected, since two episodes from the show’s season 4 pt.2 aired on April 13. Since these episodes are part of the series finale, which is set to air over the next few weeks, we expect to see demand for Titans continue to grow and push the show up higher in the ranking.
Rounding out the top streaming original rankings we see another show make a come back in the rankings - Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale took tenth place with 26.4 times the average series demand this week, an impressive 21% increase. Demand for the show has been steadily tracking higher daily as viewer anticipation around the upcoming season grows. The increases have been most notable around certain events surrounding the book and the show lately, including the news of the showrunner stepping down for season 6 to focus on the prequel.
