Image: Westworld, HBO
In this week’s TV demand chart, Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants remains the most demanded series in the USA. The ever-demanded cartoon sponge is joined by rising demand for FOX’s animated sitcom The Simpsons and live-action sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Both shows re-enter the top ten this week, up from 11th and 16th last week respectively. The increased popularity of these shows could indicate that with the current global pandemic, US audiences are increasingly turning to light-hearted content.
However, there is still room for darker fare. AMC’s zombie saga The Walking Dead is still gaining demand and ranks second with US audiences this week. Demand for the show grew 17.0% week-on-week as Season 10 continues to air.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 related production cancellations have affected demand for last week’s no. 2, NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Production on the live show was halted last week, meaning that it could not return to broadcast this week as scheduled. Consequently, with no new content demand for SNL dropped 26.9% to 6th. Along with the other companies who have faced this difficult choice, we at Parrot Analytics salute NBC’s decision to put cast, crew and audience safety first.
This week’s highest rise in demand is for HBO’s Westworld. Season 3 of the sci-fi western premiered on March 15th, Demand week-on-week rose by 48.7%, raising the series up to 9th from 38th. Fellow HBO drama Game Of Thrones also saw a slight demand rise but for an unpleasant reason. Two GoT cast members – Indira Varma and Kristofer Hivju – made the news this week with confirmed cases of COVID-19.
For the sixth week in a row, Stranger Things tops the US digital original chart. Unfortunately, the blockbuster hit is one of the many shows affected by the widespread production shutdown. Production of Stranger Things halted on March 16th after Netflix stopped all live action production in the US.
Demand for Netflix’s On My Block continues to rise after the March 11th release of Season 3. The teen drama is up 6 places to rank third by streaming TV demand. The show’s joint highest US ranking is second, which it achieved for both the release of Season 1 and Season 2. However, this week Disney+’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars came in just ahead with 1.5% more demand, leaving On My Block Season 3 peaking so far as the third most demanded digital original series in the USA.
Finally, Netflix’s Elite returns to the top ten series by streaming TV demand. Season 3 of the teen drama from Spain was released on March 13th. After the release demand increased by 90.3%, or nearly double the show’s demand last week.
