Image: Attack on Titan, MBS
This week 04 - 10 March, we see a couple of new players enter the streaming original ranking for the first time, while the overall shows ranking saw a comeback that shook up its top five places. Among overall shows, South Park remained at the top of the ranking with 98.4 times the average series demand, followed by Spongebob Squarepants trailing in second place with 80.9 times the demand average.
MBS’ perennially popular anime Attack on Titan had a 46% increase that saw it make its way back into the ranking to take third place with 69.3 times the average series demand. The anime has been building up to its finale since over two years now, and finally premiered the first half of its finale on March 03. Fans of the series have been waiting for this since last year, and according to a recent announcement, will have to wait for the second half of the finale to come in Fall 2023. Regardless of the wait, demand for the series in the U.S. clearly shows that Attack on Titan has a robust fan base that is eager for more.
The Flash held on to its position in fifth place thanks to a 4% increase in demand this week. The minor increase came after the fifth episode from season 9 aired on March 08 in which the main characters take on the evil version of Ryan Wilder once and for all. While this week the show had 64.3 times the average series demand, we expect to see this number increase over the next few weeks as it heads closer to the series finale date on March 29. Rounding out the overall shows ranking we see Game of Thrones sliding down to tenth place with 52.7 times the average series demand. While the HBO series always has a consistently high level of demand which makes it a regular in this ranking, it will be interesting to see if it moves off the ranking altogether over the next few weeks as audience attention shifts to other content.
The Mandalorian remained in first place in the streaming originals ranking for yet another week after it knocked Stranger Things off the top last week. The Star Wars show had a further 6% increase this week as well, cementing its position as top dog in the chart for this week with 67.8 times the average series demand. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Picard replaced Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso as the third most in-demand streaming original in the U.S. this week. The former had 43.1 times the average series demand (+3%) while Ted Lasso saw a 10% decline. We do however expect to see demand for the Apple series increase again next week when its third season premieres on March 15.
Next in the ranking in fifth place we see another Apple series, The Problem with Jon Stewart making its debut for the first time. The show returned to screens for six new episodes that are set to air weekly from March 03. Demand for the new episode seems to be markedly higher than any others so far, so it will be interesting to see how the show fares over the next six weeks as new episodes come out. As of this week, The Problem with Jon Stewart had 37.4 times more demand than the average series in the U.S. Another new show made its debut in the ranking this week - Amazon’s Daisy Jones & The Six rose up to take seventh place thanks to a 46% increase that made it 33.5 times more in demand than the average series in the U.S. The rock and roll series has also become the first fictional band to top itunes charts the day after it premiered.
A decline in demand was observed meanwhile for all three shows that took eighth, ninth and tenth place in the ranking. Titans, 1923 and Outer Banks had a 4%, 9% and 26% drop in demand this week. This makes sense when we consider the timing - Titans concluded the first part of its final season over 3 months ago, Outer Banks last released content on February 23 and 1923 had its finale on February 26.
