Image: Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Netflix
There’s no change in the three series most demanded by Americans this week. AMC’s The Walking Dead enjoys a second week with the highest digital TV demand ratings, while Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants and HBO’s Game Of Thrones remain second and third most demanded respectively. All three top shows showed a slight (less than 5%) decline in demand from last week.
The biggest week-on-week increase in the overall top ten belongs to Rick And Morty. Adult Swim released both a trailer and a release date for Season 4 Part 2 of the animated series this week. The show will return to air on May 3rd, earlier than expected. As a result, demand for Rick And Morty rose by 41.2%, moving the show from 27th last week to 7th this week.
Lastly for the overall chart, CBS’s Hawaii Five-0 had its series finale this week. The drama’s finale aired on April 3rd, closing out ten seasons of tropical crime solving. Demand rose 29.3%, leaving Hawaii Five-0 to end its run on a high as the 9th most demanded series in America. While the TV industry is notorious for failed reboots, Hawaii Five-0 will stand out as a successful adaption of a legacy IP for modern audiences.
Like in the overall chart, the three most demanded digital original series remain steady from last week. Netflix’s Stranger Things, Disney+’s The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Clone Wars remain first through third in the USA respectively. All three shows show a slight demand decline from last week, all less than a 6% change.
A new series has rocketed up the charts this week. Netflix’s true crime documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness more than quintupled its demand last week, rising by a staggering 434%. The propelled the series from 110th to rank 8th in digital original demand (37th in the overall series chart). Very few series can spark demand events of this magnitude and it is possible the global circumstance of the current COVID-19 pandemic played a part.
The events portrayed in Tiger King may have hit just the right mix of serious and absurd to provide needed escapism to US audiences confined to their homes. Additionally, the sensational nature meant it was widely shared on social media, reaching people with unusual amounts of free time who could go on to check it out themselves. However, it’s hard to say how much of an effect the pandemic has had on demand for Tiger King. It is highly possible that with these ingredients, the show would have been a hit regardless: fellow Netflix true crime docuseries Making A Murderer also reached the digital original top ten under more normal circumstances.
Two other digital originals also entered the digital original top ten this week. Both are Netflix crime dramas. Ozark grew in digital TV demand ratings by 86.5% from last week after the 27th March release of the critically praised Season 3. Meanwhile, La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) is up 48.4% after the release of Part 4 on 3rd April.
