Image: Saturday Night Live, NBC
Spongebob Squarepants just beat out My Hero Academia to be the most in-demand series for this week. These two shows have alternated between first and second place for the last few weeks. In the past week Spongebob Squarepants averaged 88.5 times the typical US series demand while My Hero Academia averaged 88.2 times.
The fastest rising show in the overall US TV series demand chart this week is NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The long running series premiered its 46th season on October 3rd. In recent years this show has increasingly looked to American politics for material. A month before a presidential election, following the first presidential debate, and in the midst of a global pandemic, this week’s episode had a veritable smorgasbord of topics to draw on. The current climate likely helped drive the 64% increase in demand for this series from last week. Four years ago when the new season of SNL premiered during the last presidential election, the show was only the 27th most in-demand series overall. SNL’s demand this week shows how much the past four years have been a boost for the sketch comedy series.
While South Park remains in the top 10 overall series for the week, it saw the largest decline in demand from last week, falling 13.8% after the demand spike from its one hour special pandemic episode.
The Walking Dead was the 6th most in-demand series in the US this week. On October 4th it resumed airing episodes after COVID-19 halted production and forced the delay of the season finale originally scheduled to air in April. At the time of its last episode to air, The Walking Dead was the most in-demand series in the US. Had the finale aired the week it was scheduled for, it likely would have achieved even greater demand. However, this week’s result shows that the series lost momentum during the months-long delay and was unable to recapture the demand it had.
Perennially popular Game of Thrones saw a spike in demand this week. This was likely driven by news around casting for HBO’s prequel series House of the Dragon. It was announced that Paddy Considine would star as King Viserys in the series.
Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys saw strong growth in demand this week. Its season finale was released on October 9 and as of October 10 the show has seen the highest demand so far this season, up nearly 20% from last week. This result potentially validates Amazon’s decision to release episodes weekly compared to the all-at-once release schedule of Season 1. While many fans were vocally angered by this decision, even review bombing the show as a result, the strategy has not only kept audiences engaged but has grown demand leading into the finale.
Netflix originals Stranger Things and Cobra Kai were both knocked down a place by The Boys this week. Lucifer jumped two spots in the ranking this week after news broke that production on Season 5 has wrapped up and the final season has started filming. Fans are eager to see more of this series as only the first half of Season 5 is available so far. Disney+’s The Mandalorian held steady as the 4th most in-demand digital original. Expect demand for this series to heat up as we approach the Season 2 premiere at the end of the month.
