Image: Wu-tang: An American Saga, Hulu
This week, 11 – 17 September, while the top position among overall shows remained unchanged, variety series Saturday Night Live had a 17% surge in demand and was propelled up to become the second most in-demand show in the US. This increase in demand was observed after the passing of one of the show’s most beloved and influential cast members, Norm Macdonald. This is not an unusual occurrence, because it has been observed that real-life events can affect demand for shows. In this case Macdonald’s death could have driven fans to revisit Saturday Night Live and watch his old segments. The NBC show now has 53.2 times the average series demand.
Rick and Morty had a 23% decrease in demand after ending its fifth season on September 5. This was expected, however it still remains at the third spot with 52.3 times the average series demand in the US, just above The Walking Dead. The AMC show slid down a spot from last week, and is now at the fourth position with 49.3 times the average demand, a 7% decrease. Showtime’s Billions also saw a 6% decrease in demand, and now has 42.5 times the average series demand in the US.
Titans has regained its former position and is now the most in-demand digital original series in the United States with 45.3 times the average demand. The HBO Max show didn’t have that much of an increase in demand, the movement was mainly as a result of demand for Netflix’s La Casa De Papel (which was number one last week) falling by 18% two weeks after its new season release. The Spanish drama had 42.1 times the average series demand this week. We expect that it may continue to slide down the charts over the next few weeks, and rise back up again when the second part of its series finale releases on December 3.
Lucifer had a 31% increase in demand and shot up to the third position this week with 40.4 times the average demand following its series finale, while Ted Lasso finally overtook Stranger Things, landing at the fourth position on the charts, with the latter in the fifth. With the Emmy’s this weekend, and Ted Lasso taking home several Emmy wins, we expect to see demand for the Apple TV+ series rise up again as more audiences tune in to watch the comedy.
The series with the highest surge in demand this week was Hulu’s Wu-tang: An American Saga with a 47% increase. It entered the top 10 list at the tenth position, with 25.5 times the average series demand. The American drama series has released four out of six episodes from its second season, and so far has received positive reviews as fans are eager to see the backstory of how most of the famous Wu-tang Clan songs came to be. With two more episodes still to go, it remains to be seen if the show will continue to draw more audiences in the next few weeks.
