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The Witcher dethrones The Mandalorian for title of biggest TV show in America
Move over, Din Djarin — there's a new king of television in town! Despite a lukewarm response from fans and critics alike, Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher was able to wrest the title of "Biggest TV Show in America" from the armored hands of The Mandalorian on Disney+.
According to a new report from Parrot Analytics, Geralt of Rivia (currently played by Henry Cavill) isn't just slaying monsters, he's also slaying viewership expectations. "The show did not simply grow in demand, it exploded: content demand for The Witcher is a huge 3.6 times (361 percent) larger than last week," reads the Parrot press release.
Over in the galaxy far, far away, "Disney+’s The Mandalorian saw a minor demand increase due to the season finale on Dec 27. The Star Wars show ends the year ranked third, as it was overtaken by a surging Saturday Night Live, which rose 13.1 percent to reach second."
Based on Parrot's analysis, Mando (the titular character is played by Pedro Pascal) and Baby Yoda were able to stay on top for so long because of Disney's decision to release episodes on a weekly basis rather than follow the Netflix model and dump full seasons all at once.
@FilmCritHULK on Twitter said it best:
"The Mandalorian has spent week after week growing its audience, dominating pop culture discourse. So I've said it before ... The one weekend pump and dump Netflix model is a silent killer for your own 'big item' content. It just goes away in two days."
Stranger Things, Titans, The Expanse, and Lucifer also topped Parrot's list of the most in-demand original streaming content in the country.
A second season of The Witcher has been ordered, but won't appear on Netflix until 2021 at the earliest. Season 2 of The Mandalorian, however, already has a release window of fall 2020.
