Image: The Boys Amazon Prime Video
This week Spongebob Squarepants takes the top spot yet again with 93.9 times as much demand from American audiences compared to the average series in the US. While still an outstanding result for this series, both in terms of absolute demand and the length of time it has held the top spot, this is a drop from the previous week when it had 101.5 times the demand of the average series.
There has been little movement among the top overall series in the US. Spongebob Squarepants, My Hero Academia, and The Umbrella Academy retained the top three spots respectively. However, all saw a drop in demand indicating there may be a shake up in the coming weeks. The Umbrella Academy looks like the most likely to be knocked out of the top three as it has been trending downward for a while. This is an expected pattern for an all at once episode release – a large peak in demand followed by a steady drop off.
Cobra Kai was the fastest riser this week. It powered up in the rankings from 58th place overall last week to number four this week, nearly doubling its demand week on week. If it continues with this momentum this series looks like it will be the one to break into the top three rankings next week. The stellar performance of Cobra Kai underscores the value of being on a large and accessible platform like Netflix. Its recent performance is not due to a new season or episodes being released - the existing two seasons were just made available on Netflix. This demand bodes well for the series performance once the anticipated third season is released on Netflix.
A new entrant to the top 10 means that some show must fall out of the ranking. The Flash dropped out of the top 10 overall series this week, after spending one week in the ranking at the 7th spot.
After being neck and neck last week, The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender have gone separate ways. The Legend of Korra moved up one place in the rankings to eight place while Avatar: The Last Airbender slipped to tenth place.
The Mandalorian ticked up one place from ninth to tenth. While this is not a dramatic shift, it could be the beginning of the series’ climb back to the top. It was announced this week that the premiere date for the new season will be October 30. Can the increase in interest be sustained through the new season premiere? We will be keeping tabs on this Disney+ flagship show.
Among digital original series, The Umbrella Academy managed to hold the top spot for another week. Cobra Kai jumped into second place, reaching 56.8 times the demand for the average series this week. Narcos just edged back into the ranking from 11th place last week.
While Cobra Kai looks to be the likeliest contender to knock The Umbrella Academy from first place among digital originals, The Boys may also be in the running. Amazon released season two last Friday and with only two days of post release data this week, The Boys has already taken the eighth spot among the top 10 digital originals with 30.8 times the demand for the average series. Amazon chose a mixed release model for this season where the first three episodes are dropped at first and then one episode is released weekly after that. This means the peak demand for the series will likely be lower, but demand will be sustained over a longer period as episodes are dropped weekly.
