Image: Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Netflix
As more consumers are using connected TVs and are becoming “cord-cutters,” research firm eMarketer estimates 22.2 million U.S adults will have cut the cord on their cable, satellite, or telco TV service in 2017. Clearly the continued drop in the number of households with a TV connection will likely have far-reaching effects on the business of television. Let us now look at connected TV measurement across all platforms, powered by demand data, for the US domestic market.
The trio of Marvel’s superhero series from Netflix have reappeared in the bottom five rankings this post-Olympics week. All three series have new episodes coming later in the year (but do not yet appear to have a concrete airing date) – Jessica Jones (ranked #7), Daredevil (ranked #9), and The Punisher (ranked #10) – have experienced roughly a 20% week-on-week increase in demand compared to last week. A demand uptick for Marvel/Netflix titles tends to happen around the release of significant Marvel motion picture releases; the next “Avengers universe” film is scheduled to open on April 27.
Also, despite launching only three weeks ago, nostalgic teen drama Everything Sucks! from Netflix suffered a 19% decrease in demand contrasted to last week. It is unlikely, we believe, that this series will continue to feature on the chart as more original series are premiering in March. The top five rankings remain unchanged, but they all unceremoniously lost a quarter of demand compared to last week since no new episodes have aired this year.
In the overall chart, AMC’s The Walking Dead appears to have experienced a renaissance in its popularity. The zombie franchise’s principal producer Scott Gimple has discussed plans for more spin-offs of the show in the future. The show, which is currently in its eighth season, already has one spin-off (Fear The Walking Dead), and there are discussions for more. Elsewhere in the chart, two long-running American reality titles reappeared in the chart perhaps due to a pregnancy, as in the case of Keeping Up With The Kardashians ranked at #8, and competition format changes in the case of The Voice, ranked tenth.
