Image: Friends, NBC
This week, May 23 - 29, Saturday Night Live just edged out Spongebob Squarepants to be the most in-demand show in the US. It was 65.0 times more in-demand than the average series for the week, up 3% from last week. The sketch comedy show recently aired its final episode of the season so this week’s high will likely be the most attention the show receives until it resumes in the Fall.
Demand for the perennially popular sitcom Friends was up by 24% this week. The show, which concluded in 2004, was 40.7 times more in-demand than the average series this week. The surge in demand follows the release of the long anticipated reunion on May 27th.
The Walking Dead rose back into the top ten overall ranking this week, up from the 12th spot last week. While this series itself is not currently releasing episodes, its spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead is in the middle of releasing episodes in its 6th season. The interest in the spinoff series clearly has some spillover effects on demand for the original.
Among digital originals, the top 4 series each held onto their rank from last week. Stranger Things remained the most in-demand digital original series in the US with 41.8 times the average series demand. It is followed by two Star Wars series from Disney+, The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The Handmaid’s Tale, which is currently releasing episodes in its 4th season rounds out the top 4 for the week with 34.1 times the average demand. As it approaches its finale scheduled for June 16th we will be watching to see if it has the demand to overtake the top series from Netflix and Disney+.
Demand for Lucifer surged this week. The show was 29 times more in-demand than the average series which is a 27% increase from last week. This bump in demand comes after Season 5, part 2 dropped on Netflix on May 28th. With a musical episode and cliffhanger, there was plenty to keep fans engaged with this latest season.
Cobra Kai also saw a jump in demand this week. Demand for the Netflix original was up 12% from last week. Excitement for the next season of the series due at the end of the year was up this week after the announcement that one of the villains from the third movie will be making a reappearance in the show.
