Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige, is still adjusting to what defines success for Marvel's streaming series. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become one of the biggest franchises in film history with its 23 films grossing a combined total of $22 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Starting with Phase 4, Marvel Studios decided to create series based on their popular film characters for Disney+.
WandaVision premiered in January 2021 and kickstarted Phase 4 after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay to theatrically released films like Black Widow and Eternals. WandaVision was shortly followed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and currently, the studio is airing Loki which premiered on June 9, 2021. After Loki premiered on a Wednesday, Disney+ has opted to move the premiere of new episodes of all other Disney+ original series like The Book of Boba Fett and Monsters At Work from Friday to Wednesday in a move to emulate the numbers they have seen for Loki.
In a recent interview with Deadline, Feige discussed Loki and how the studio is adjusting what they define as success for a series as opposed to a film. Unlike the films which have box-office numbers to point to, streaming series don't offer an easy number. Traditional television uses Neilsen ratings, but each streaming service has access to their viewership numbers that they can choose to release or not. Currently, they are using the show's social media and critical response as their biggest indicator of success. Read what Feige said below:
I’m still learning and figuring out. It’s a whole new world...As far as I know there aren’t really any Nielsen ratings (for streaming). I haven’t been given any Nielsen ratings for a streaming series. All the different streaming services have access to their own information, but don’t share it so easily to the public or across services...We knew what success meant at the box office — that was very clear. There were numbers to compare it to. One sign is social discussion of reviews, that’s been helpful.
The premiere of Loki reportedly drew in 890,000 households to become the biggest premiere of a Marvel series on Disney+. This number is even greater than the reported 686,000 households that tuned into Cruella on Disney+ over the Memorial Day weekend. Loki's premiere also saw an increase over the previous Marvel Studios series premiere, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's 759,000 households and WandaVision's 655,000, showing that with each series, the audience grows to suggest good things for upcoming series like Hawkeye, which will premiere later in 2021.
The first three entries of Marvel's Phase 4 have been the television series on Disney+, with Black Widow being the first film back for the franchise after Spider-Man: Far From Home's July 2019 release. As the various series on Disney+ will have an impact on storylines in the film, there will be greater crossover material between the films and series. With major heroes like She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel getting their introduction in solo series before crossing over into the films, the success of the various streaming series shows audiences will follow the Marvel characters across various formats.
Source: Deadline