Image: South Park, Comedy Central
For the week of February 18 - 24, we see South Park take the throne for first place in the overall rankings after a 38% increase in demand propelled it to the top and made it 113.2 times more in demand than the average series in the U.S. this week. The series has been making headlines lately after its controversial episode based on Harry and Meghan titled “Worldwide Privacy Tour” aired on February 15, and demand for the show has also kept tracking higher since.
The Flash followed SpongeBob SquarePants in the rankings and took third place this week with 60.4 times the average series demand, almost the same level as last week. YTV’s My Hero Academia ranked fifth on the chart this week, rising up from its position in eighth place last week. Demand for the anime has been steadily rising over the last few weeks after the show officially entered its “final saga” earlier this month.
Demand for HBO’s apocalyptic series The Last of Us fell by 7%, moving the series down to seventh place in the rankings this week. The show is expected to stay high in the rankings over the next few weeks however, as it gets closer to its finale date on March 12. As of this week, it had 55.1 times the average series demand in the U.S. Another apocalyptic series The Walking Dead featured on the chart with 53.3 times the average series demand, a 4% increase since last week. The small spike in demand came after The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon spinoff series got an official synopsis on February 22.
Stranger Things had a 4% increase in demand this week after one of its stars, David Harbour’s recent interview where he spoke about the upcoming (and final) season of the series. The show remained at the top of the streaming original rankings with 59.4 times the average series demand.
Paramount+’s Star Trek: Picard had a further 25% increase and moved up to third place in the rankings this week with 45 times the average series demand. As mentioned last week, the series returned to screens for its third and final series on February 16. Now that the show is two episodes in, loaded with references to previous Star Trek content and has brought back a major character, we’re expecting to continue seeing the show high up in the rankings over the next few weeks.
Animaniacs had the highest increase (+55%) this week, which saw it enter the ranking in seventh place with 29.2 times the average series demand. The classic series had been rebooted in 2020 and just finished its final season with an ‘upsetting’ end to the story which has supposedly left viewers “horrified” after the deaths of a few beloved characters.
Another Paramount series 1923, also had a good week in terms of audience attention and saw demand rise by 11% ahead of its finale on February 26th, taking eighth place in the ranking with 29.1 times the average series demand. It’s likely that we will see another final spurt in demand next week after viewers catch up to the episodes and the finale.
