Image: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Disney+
This week marks another occasion where digital original series have a heavy presence in the United States overall top ten most demanded series. We have five digital original series in the top ten again, and the frequency of this event seems to be increasing. However, the overall most demanded series is a linear title: Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants has retained last week’s position at the top of the charts.
However, the perennially popular animated sponge does not have an unassailable lead. The second most demanded series by US audience this week is Netflix’s Stranger Things. There is less than 2% separating the demand of these top shows. This close television series demand comes after Stranger Things increased by 16.3% from last week’s demand. Showrunners the Duffer Brothers prompted this by confirming a major character will return for the upcoming Season 4.
Stranger Things’ rise to second moves MBS’s My Hero Academia down to third. Season 4 of the anime is currently midway through airing on Adult Swim in the US. This is some weeks behind the Japanese broadcast, which concludes next week. It will be interesting to see if television series demand for My Hero Academia stays high after new Japanese episodes have finished airing. If it does then this is a sign that most of the American audience is waiting for the US airing, rather than following the Japanese release through unofficial methods. As a manga/comic adaptation, it is somewhat likely that this will be the case as the plot is already known to the fanbase.
The chart sees a new entry this week as Netflix’s Narcos returns to the overall top ten as 9th most demanded. All Season 2 episodes of the show’s Mexico seasons were released on February 13th. With a full week of post-release activity, demand for the crime drama has risen by 51.6%, lifting it from its position of 41st last week.
In the digital original top ten, Stranger Things is America’s most demanded series for a second week in a row. Disney+’s The Mandalorian and DC Universe’s Harley Quinn also keep their places in the top three in second and third respectively. Narcos moves up to be the 4th most demanded digital original series in the US.
The other big mover in US digital original demand this week is Disney+’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The animated series ended in 2014, until Disney announced it would be returning to Disney+ for a seventh and final season on February 21st. Star Wars fans have been hotly anticipating this ever since so it is no surprise that now the first episode has premiered, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has a 46.2% week-on-week increase in demand. If this show follows the trajectory of fellow Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian, then we can expect it to become a top ten fixture over the next few months.
