Disney’s weekly release strategy is working
Television is very different these days. Instead of us all watching the same thing on Thursdays at 9pm, we binge stuff when and where want it. There are people just starting Breaking Bad and The Sopranos for the first time right now. So it is very had to judge what is the ‘biggest’ TV in the world at the moment. And streaming services don’t even release their viewer numbers, because, well, they don’t have to.
However, we can officially say that WandaVision is the biggest TV show in the world right now.
That is according to Parrot Analytics, an audience attention measurement system that uses audience behaviour datasets to aggregate social media, fan ratings, and piracy data to which show is the most-watched and talked about in the world.
And unsurprisingly, Disney Plus’ WandaVision takes the top spot.
As reported by Forbes, WandaVision did not initially smash the rankings. To begin with it fluctuated between the number seven and 35 spots. Which isn’t that surprising, considering how the show started with a series of sitcom parodies, instead of the superhero action you might have expected from the first proper Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show.
But it was with episode five – ie the episode when shit gets real with that ending – on February 5th, that the show shot up to the top spot.
Parrot Analytics cited the show’s weekly release schedule, as opposed to a bingable, whole-season-dump, that the reason for the increasing popularity.
“There’s a lot of online stuff about Darcy and Loki – I think it would be exciting for a few people on Tumblr!”
Kat Dennings (@OfficialKat) wants #DarcyLewis to team up with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, and bring the popular fan-fiction pairing to the MCU. pic.twitter.com/tBxDCGy5o6
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) February 3, 2021
“When we see a binge release series like we do on Netflix, we’re seeing demand skyrocket at first for like a week,” said Wade Payson-Denney, insights analyst, Parrot Analytics.
He added that Netflix shows like Cobra Kai and The Crowns as examples of shows that have done the opposite.
“They really pop up at first but quickly trail off. It’s a quick hit for these streamers. Whereas with weekly release, we see popularity gradually build over time, especially for a show like The Mandalorian and WandaVision.”
Last week, we caught up with the Darcy and Jimmy from the show – or more accurately Kat Dennings and Randall Park, the actors that play them – to talk about what they thought when they first discovered what WandaVision was about.
“When I first got called in [by] Jac Schaeffer, the head writer, we sat in a conference room, and she had the whole show mapped out on the walls.” says Randall Park. “I was just so amazed.”
“‘I was like ‘What is going on?'” adds Kat Dennings. “This is the craziest thing I have ever seen.'”
“But seeing all of the work they put in to it, it all really makes sense,” she continued. “Everything you see has a payoff. There’s nothing put in purely by accident.”
“There’s a huge payoff that I think people will be really excited for.”
