Netflix/Disney+Audiences are leaving the upside-down for a galaxy far, far away – The Mandalorian has dethroned Stranger Things as the most streamed show in the US.
After 21 weeks at the top of the country’s streaming chart, Netflix’s nostalgic series is no longer the most in-demand show on offer.
The titanic company has dominated streaming for years, but the new kid on the block, Disney+, could change that.
Disney+Amid its immense back catalogue of Disney animated classics, Marvel movies and many, many more, there’s Star Wars’ new show.
Between the week of November 18-23, Parrot Analytics’ weekly list revealed The Mandalorian as the most in-demand show on streaming services in the US.
Disney+Parrot Analytics rank releases based on desire, engagement and the viewership of a series, conglomerated into a single unit of measurement referred to as ‘demand expressions’.
In that week, The Mandalorian had more than 100 million demand impressions, while Stranger Things fell to 81 million.
NetflixA Parrot Analytics representative told Business Insider:
While demand is a metric that should not be confused with subscriber numbers, this is a strong indication that the Star Wars series is driving a lot of sign-ups to the recently-debuted Disney+ service.
Taking place five years after Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian is a stylish, sedate space western with shades of Rogue One – but most people aren’t talking about that. In fact, viewers online can’t stop gushing over Baby Yoda.
Disney+Bounty hunter Dyn Jarren is sent to find or kill a mark, only to find an unbearably cute, fuzzy green creature. He’s the same species as Jedi Grand Master Yoda, but he isn’t an infant Yoda (it’s just easy to refer to it as that).
Nor is he actually a baby, he’s 50 years old – bear in mind the Yoda we all know and love died at the ripe old age of 900.
how i get through my day #BabyYoda pic.twitter.com/f24q5iiORc
— bastian (@nobuenobastian) November 17, 2019
Just one day after the service launched in the US, Canada and Netherlands on November 12, Disney announced 10 million people had already signed up (millions more will have subscribed on the back of the Baby Yoda hype).
Alas, the UK will be playing catch-up: the streaming service isn’t due to drop here until March 31, 2020. This is due to several Disney properties still being locked into contracts with other distributors – so we’ll just have to play the waiting game.
As per Wired, Simon Brew, editor of Film Stories magazine, explained:
It’s a temporary problem, and not unique to the UK… 20th Century Fox has pre-existing deals with broadcasters and streamers, signed before Disney took it over.
And Disney itself had long and rich contracts with the likes of Sky. Ideally, Disney would have liked to have bought Sky too, but it was effectively gazumped by Comcast.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.