Image: Shadow and Bone, Netflix
This week, April 25 – May 1, Spongebob Squarepants remained the most in-demand show in the US. It was 66.3 times more in-demand than the average series for the week, up slightly from its demand last week.
A more surprising results is that Game of Thrones held onto its second most in-demand spot for the second week. It even managed to grow its demand slightly. Demand for the show was 62.1 times that of the average series which is up 7% from last week. Despite concluding in 2019, this HBO series has remained perennially popular. It recently saw a surge in interest following the heavily promoted “Iron Anniversary” celebrating 10 years since its premiere. This week’s result shows how even short-term promotions like this can have longer than expected effects on such a popular show.
Demand for Saturday Night Live jumped by more than 10% this week making it the 3rd most in-demand series in the US. This is without it even airing another episode since April 10th. This spike in demand was due to next week’s host and musical guest being announced. Elon Musk will host the show on May 8th with Miley Cyrus as musical guest. The decision to have Musk host attracted a range of reactions.
Demand for Sesame Street was up by nearly 10% this week. This follows the April 23rd release of the documentary film Street Gang: How we got to Sesame Street. The up close look into the history of the beloved show clearly excited the many fans of this series with their own fond memories of the show.
The Walking Dead returned to the top 10 this week. However, this is more a function of demand for The Flash and The Simpsons falling this week as demand for The Walking Dead was effectively flat week on week.
The breakout hit among digital originals this week is Shadow and Bone from Netflix. It premiered on April 23rd and its demand this week was nearly double its demand last week, 25.9 times the demand of the average series. The show is based on a series of novels and as a fantasy series it may be benefitting from fans of The Witcher looking for a show to fill the void left by the delayed release of that series.
Demand for The Handmaid’s Tale is up by 26% this week making it the 5th most in-demand digital original in the United States. Hulu surprised fans of the series by releasing the first 3 episodes of season 4 one day early. The rest of the season’s episodes will be released on a weekly cadence.
Apple TV+’s For All Mankind edged into the top 10 digital originals for the week with 23.2 times the demand of the average series. Its final episode of season 2 was released on April 23rd and it has been renewed for a third season.
