Image: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Disney+
This week, May 2 - 8, Spongebob Squarepants remained the most in-demand show in the US. It was 64.1 times more in-demand than the average series for the week, which is a 3% decline from its demand last week.
Demand for Saturday Night Live was up 2% week-on-week. Remember that this weekend’s episode hosted by Elon Musk is not yet reflected in this data. To see what impact the tech billionaire had on demand for the show we will have to look at next week’s data. Already in the lead up to his hosting premiere he had been making waves.
Stranger Things moved one spot up the overall rankings this week to become the 5th most in-demand show in the US with 48.9 times the average series demand, a 15% increase on its demand last week. This follows the release of a trailer for the show’s long awaited season 4. This trailer teased the return of Dr. Brenner, previously thought to be dead. This is similar to the first season 4 trailer released in February which hinted at Sherriff Hopper’s return and massively boosted fans’ excitement.
The Flash moved up 5 places in the overall ranking this week as its demand increased by 11%. It returned from a 3-week hiatus this week with the 8th episode of its 7th season.
Both The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Clone Wars moved back into the overall top 10 this week. In particular demand for Star Wars: The Clone Wars was up by 26% which shot the animated series up 17 places in the overall rankings. This was no doubt driven by Star Wars day, May 4th, which was the 1-year anniversary of the finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and also the premiere date of the latest Disney+ original, Star Wars: The Bad Batch. This is the sequel to Star Wars: The Clone Wars so naturally drove an increase in demand for its prequel.
Among digital originals, The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Clone Wars moved into the second and third spots respectively. The jolt in demand for Star Wars content was not enough to push these shows ahead of Stranger Things which held onto the top spot for another week.
While Disney+’s Star Wars series enjoyed a surge of interest this week, demand for its Marvel shows, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, plummeted. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s demand fell by 17%. Although this show premiered after WandaVision and recently concluded, its demand has fallen below WandaVision indicating that WandaVision has more durable demand.
Netflix’s newest hit in the top 10 charts this week, Shadow and Bone continued to grow in demand for another week. Demand has continued to grow for this show despite all its episodes being released at once. This is a good sign that audiences are slowly discovering it.
Although The Handmaid’s Tale fell a spot in the rankings this week, this was due to the two Star Wars series jumping up the rankings. Demand for The Handmaid’s Tale actually rose by 7% which indicates that it is continuing to gain momentum as it releases its 4th season episodes weekly.
