A new report reveals that Disney+'s Star Wars show The Mandalorian far outperformed the original shows from other new streaming services launched in the past year in its debut week. The show was launched the same day as Disney+ and became an instant hit for the streaming service. Starring Pedro Pascal as the titular character, whose name is Din Djarin, and created by Jon Favreau, who launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man, The Mandalorian was both critically lauded and popular with Star Wars fans thanks to its blend of adventure and humor. It also created a bonafide pop culture phenomenon in the form of The Child, also known as Baby Yoda.
In addition to being wildly popular, the show proved that Disney+ could compete with streaming giant Netflix, and the streaming service now has over 60 million subscribers. Disney isn't the only major media company to launch a streaming service recently, though. NBC launched Peacock in mid-July, Warner Media launched HBO Max in May, and Apple TV+ launched in 2019, just two weeks before Disney's service. Each of the services was launched in an effort to compete with Netflix, who has steadily eaten into both the TV and cinema markets.
Now, THR reports that according to an analytical report, The Mandalorian was easily the most popular show on any of the new streaming services when you compare streaming numbers from their launch weeks. Parrot Analytics undertook the report, comparing demand for originals on each of the four streaming services compared to the average demand for all US TV shows during the same time. Disney+'s Star Wars show was 55 times more in demand making it by far the most popular streaming original across the four new services. You can see a graph from Parrot below showing the results.
Based on that graph, demand on Disney+ far outstripped any of its competitors. This reflects the hype around the streaming service's launch, with it gaining 12 million subscribers in its first week of availability. Interestingly, AppleTV+, which has struggled to gain recognition in the streaming wars due to its relative lack of content, was the second most in demand service, mainly due to the popularity of For All Mankind, while HBO Max and Peacock fared poorly in comparison, despite both launching during the coronavirus pandemic at a time when many Americans were stuck at home.
The stats not only reinforce The Mandalorian's reputation as one of the most popular new shows in America in the past year, but reinforce just how popular Disney's offerings are. The demand for Disney+ shows is remarkable when compared to its closest competitors, though the report also mentioned that Netflix's originals far outstrip the numbers achieved by its competitors.
That's a sign of just how far the likes of Disney+, AppleTV+ and HBO Max have to go before they can truly compete with the streaming giant. The popularity of Netflix is partly due to its head start, having been streaming for over a decade at this point, and secondly due to its sheer volume of original content, spending billions of dollars a year on shows. But the popularity of The Mandalorian is a sign that the gap between Netflix and its competitors may shrink sooner rather than later.
Source: THR