As the first fresh content from the world’s biggest franchise in eighteen months, not to mention the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s official expansion onto the small screen and the kickoff of Phase Four, WandaVision was always going to be destination television for a huge number of Disney Plus’ 90 million or so subscribers.
Each week the show unpacks just a little bit of the mystery before piling on plenty more intrigue by the time the credits roll, with fans making it the first thing on their to-do list when they wake up on a Friday morning. However, data firm Parrot Analytics have crunched the numbers, only to determine that The Mandalorian still remains more popular.
The company’s figures aren’t based on streaming minutes like the Nielsen ratings system, but using their own metrics they’ve come to the conclusion that Netflix’s Cobra Kai is the most desirable series on any platform, followed by The Mandalorian and then WandaVision in third place, as you can read below.
“WandaVision climbed one spot up the rankings this week. It finally knocked Stranger Things out of the top 3 digital originals. While demand for this Disney+ original was up by 21% this week, it was still unable to unseat either The Mandalorian or Cobra Kai. Post-release demand for WandaVision has slowly but steadily increased. The weekly release schedule has been the main factor in this slow build, but surprise twists have kept audiences engaged and prevented demand from flagging.”
Most streaming exclusives that follow a weekly release model tend to see viewership numbers rise steadily, with the audience for Amazon’s The Boys and The Mandalorian greatly increasing for their respective second seasons after people had a chance to either catch up or check them out to see what all the fuss was about.
The first two episodes of WandaVision may have been labeled as boring by a minority of disgruntled fans disappointed with the lack of standard superhero action, but over the last four weeks, the constant twists, turns and major surprises have seen it become appointment viewing, with each new installment slowly ratcheting up the tension and raising the stakes.