Ever since Nielsen started making public their streaming data back in September, Netflix has fallen short of absolute dominance of the charts only due to the popularity of Amazon's The Boys. After their season 2 wrapped up, The Mandalorian was supposed to pick up the mantle and maybe pose a slight challenge up top, but turns out that might be harder than expected.
The Mandalorian made its debut as part of the initial Disney+ lineup, leading the charge as the platform’s biggest original production and service seller. Since then it’s grown to be one of television’s most popular shows, receiving positive reviews for its plot development and quite a lot of praise for its revolutionary use of technology in filming.
All that might not be enough to challenge Netflix’s constant delivery of shows or even the share of streaming capped by The Boys, because according to Reelgood, The Mandalorian’s season 2 premiere scooped 5.7% of streaming attention this past weekend, barely losing out to The Boys’ 5.8% on that same occasion.
Both shows are following a similar release format in their second seasons, with episodes dropping on a weekly basis, so perhaps the biggest factor that comes into play to explain the tiny difference is the actual reach Disney+ has when compared to Amazon Prime Video.
Amazon bundles Prime Video for all of their 150 million subscribers, so while earlier this year the number of active viewers for Prime Video was closer to 30 million users, the pandemic has slowly brought up that usage to at least match Disney’s 60 million subscribers. Bear in mind, these are not Nielsen numbers, which take into account at least a full week of streaming activity, so only time will tell how The Mandalorian compares to Netflix’s offerings.
Whatever the case, the dust will eventually settle in the planet of streaming, Disney+ subscribers won’t mind these numbers as The Mandalorian remains of the reason they subscribe to the service and as season 2 develops with mysterious characters like the one seen on its first episode, momentum will only carry the show further.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian is now available on Disney+.
Source: GamesRadar+