The third season of “The Mandalorian” premiered on Disney+ on March 1st. This is the first new season of the show in over two years, a sizable window of time in which Disney+ and the Star Wars universe have both grown. Parrot Analytics’ data shows that demand for the latest season of “The Mandalorian” is lagging the performance of the previous two seasons, but this is not necessarily a bad thing and could be more reflective of how the franchise and the industry have evolved since 2019.
“The Mandalorian” clearly accomplished what it was meant to do when Disney+ launched in 2019 - it was a massive cultural phenomenon that made Disney+ a must have streaming subscription and set the platform on strong footing in its first few weeks of existence. The viral cuteness of Baby Yoda sent demand for the show skyrocketing in its first two weeks and and it ultimately peaked at 145 times the average series demand at its finale.
In 2021, the rollout of Marvel Phase 4 series began in earnest and other new Star Wars series like “The Book of Boba Fett” expanded that universe. These changes meant that “The Mandalorian” didn’t have to carry the platform like it once did. In the years since 2019, it was not just Disney+ growing but also its competitors. As the streaming wars heated up, audiences were spread more thinly and it was always going to be more difficult to achieve the same level of attention that the first season of “The Mandalorian” managed.
The second and third seasons of the show averaged around 70 times the average series demand in their first 30 days. This is well below the demand for the first season which nearly reached the 100x mark. Even though its latest seasons have yet to match the sheer impact of the first, “The Mandalorian” still packs a punch that puts it in a league above other Star Wars series from Disney+.
So far, the season premiere that has come closest to matching demand for any season premiere of “The Mandalorian” has been the seventh and final season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”. In 2020, the animated series returned for the first time since 2014 on Disney+. Six seasons of building a dedicated fanbase helped the show go out with a bang and it averaged 48 times the average series demand in its first month - still well short of the latest season of “The Mandalorian”.
Although recent seasons have not measured up to the first, one important factor in the value of this flagship series to Disney+ is how connected it is to the rest of the platform for retention purposes. In 2019, “The Mandalorian” was a breakout hit, but after audiences finished it there was limited new content in the franchise to keep them around. Today is a different story. Multiple new series have grown the franchise, with more on the way. While “The Mandalorian” might not be grabbing the attention that it once did to get people to sign up for Disney+, its increased connectedness to the platform will help to keep them sticking around.
