Which Disney+ “Star Wars” series is the most popular?

Nielsen

Nielsen Streaming Audience top 10 lists counts for the previous four weeks of data, which means we don’t yet have a complete data set for “Obi-Wan Kenobi”. What we do know is that the first five episodes of the series (which premiered on May 27 with two episodes) garnered 3.3 billion viewership minutes in the United States over its four first weeks of availability. This is the most-watched first month of all the early seasons of the live-action “Star Wars” show.

But that total viewership figure is overriding, because viewership for “Obi-Wan” has dropped every week in a row, from its premiere through week 4.

For an apples-to-oranges comparison due to big differences in subscriber counts, the first five episodes of “The Mandalorian” Season 1 (which premiered with two chapters) grossed 2.5 billion watch minutes. audience in its first four weeks in 2019, according to Nielsen data provided to TheWrap. Its weekly viewership grew in its first three weeks before dropping slightly in week 4. “The Book of Boba Fett,” which premiered with a single episode in December, drew 1.9 billion viewers. viewership hours in its first four weeks of release, also increasing its weekly totals throughout the first month.

Across the eight full episodes of Season 1, “The Mandalorian” totaled 5.3 billion US minutes viewed in its seven weeks, while Season 2 generated 8.3 billion minutes viewed in its seven weeks. eight weeks. “Boba Fett” garnered 4.4 billion total minutes watched over its seven episodes over seven weeks.

Without providing specific numbers, Disney announced that “Obi-Wan’s” first weekend was the biggest Disney+ series launch worldwide in the streamer’s history. That’s very impressive, but also partly to be expected with more subscribers than when its competitors launched.

Note: Minutes/hours watched is an imperfect metric, as it also depends on episode length and total number of episodes available.

Advantage: “The Mandalorian”

parrot analysis

Parrot Analytics sifts through social media, fan ratings, and hack data to represent audience demand, which reflects the expressed desire and engagement for a title within a market. Here, the company has compiled a time lag chart to compare audience demand for the three shows.

“Mandalorian” became the No. 1 show worldwide over its two seasons, peaking at 161.5 times more demand than the average show worldwide after its rookie finale. This is the second-highest peak in demand for any streaming original Parrot has tracked since 2015. In fact, “Mando” is the only live-action Disney+ “Star Wars” series to hit the global demand benchmark. #1.

“Boba Fett” and “Obi-Wan” both made it into the top five global shows during their respective runs, but neither managed to match the same enthusiasm from global viewers that “The Mandalorian” garnered.

“Boba Fett” (62.2 times) barely captured half of “Mando’s” season one global average demand (118.9 times). “Obi-Wan” had a better average global demand score and was in higher demand at launch than “Boba Fett,” but was still well below average demand and peak demand for “The Mandalorian” over two seasons. .

Advantage: “The Mandalorian”

TV time

Whip Media’s TV Time tracks viewer interest among its global community of 21 million users. Looking at the overall first-month performance for each of the show’s most recent seasons, TV Time found that “Obi-Wan” had 14.6% more views (the number of times users marked a show as “watched” on the app) than “The Mandalorian” Season 2 did. It also fared much better than “Boba Fett,” with 86.6% more views in its first month.

This confirms TV Time data provided to TheWrap in May which saw “Obi-Wan” amass twice the number of subscribers on the TV Time app than “Boba Fett” 10 days after release and 151% more than “The Mandalorian”.

But Disney+ now has far more subscribers, which benefits the most recent release, than when “Boba Fett” and “Mando” premiered. Still, it shows that Ewan McGregor’s return as a beloved legacy character carried significant weight with audiences.

Perk: “Obi-Wan Kenobi”

Reelgood

Reelgood is a streaming guide that tracks every movie and TV show available online for its 5 million total users. The service compared the three shows’ engagement and streaming activity over their first two weeks of release and pegged it against the average streaming and engagement activity of a Disney+ series at the time. during its first two weeks of release.

It is important to note that “Obi-Wan” published Three total number of episodes in its first two weeks compared to of them each for “The Mandalorian” Season 2 and “The Book of Boba Fett.” So it’s no surprise to see the series leading the way with 144x more engagement than the average TV show on Disney+ in its first 14 days.

The first one of them Season 2 episodes of “The Mandalorian” and “Boba Fett” garnered 86 and 74 times more engagement, respectively, than the average TV show on Disney+ in their first two weeks.

Advantage: “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, but with an asterisk

google trends

Google Trends doesn’t replace audience, but it does help illuminate what’s driving conversation online. On that front, “The Mandalorian” has been leading the way from afar since its debut in November 2019.

Advantage: “The Mandalorian”

Conclusion

“The Mandalorian” retains significant leads in several key metrics such as Nielsen’s growing viewership, audience demand and online buzz. “Obi-Wan” got off to a strong start, but looks destined to be the second-most-popular “Star Wars” live-action series to date, while “Boba Fett” rounds out the trio.