Demand for Netflix’s Wednesday continues to power higher. The show has been on a consistent upward trajectory since it premiered on November 23rd. As of December 12th, it hit a new high at 112.8 times the average series demand globally. Growth in global demand for the show has tracked uncannily close to how Squid Game performed when it first premiered. Squid Game’s global demand peaked at 108x, 17 days after it premiered on September 17, 2021. Wednesday is currently beating that performance - 19 days since its premiere demand for the show is at 113x and still trending upward.
In tandem with the impressive rise in demand for the show has been an even more dramatic ascent for Jenna Ortega. Ortega was by no means obscure before the premiere of the show, but Wednesday has vaulted her to a new level of popularity as audiences around the world discover her through her performance as Wednesday Addams. American audiences in particular can’t get enough of her. US demand for Jenna Ortega peaked at 171x on November 26th. To put this in context, she was the most in-demand actor in the US from November 25th to December 7th (a run of 13 days, which was finally ended by Meghan Markle’s spike in demand due to Harry & Meghan).
The massive increase in attention for Jenna Ortega will be welcome news for the young actor as she considers future opportunities beyond 'Wednesday Addams'. Ortega has managed to not only grow her audience base by a significant amount but also to shift audience sentiment about her in a positive direction. Since August, the share of conversation around Jenna Ortega has trended in a more positive direction and remained strongly positive since the premiere of Wednesday. This is notable because such a large increase in attention expands an actor’s fanbase beyond die-hard fans to a larger segment of the population that may be more neutral or even critical. Not only expanding her audience but also turning them into big fans is a good sign we can expect more great things from Jenna Ortega.
