The first episode of The Mandalorian season 2 was released to critical acclaim. So, how did it fare in ratings?
While The Mandalorian has been perhaps the most well-received of all of the Star Wars content produced by Disney, it still has steep competition among television content. Since the show streams exclusively on Disney+, it still has to battle it out against numerous other streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV+.
Thanks to a few key data tracking outlets, there is some insight into how the first episode of season 2 fared against other popular streaming shows, per data compiled by Observer. The main data came from the streaming guide Reelgood, which tracked the streaming statistics of the first episode. Reelgood, which has approximately 2 million users, summarized the viewership data:
"The season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian accured a 5.7% streaming share across its opening weekend (Oct. 30-Nov. 1)….. The Mandalorian only releases one episode per week on Disney+. So the show is drawing a massive streaming share with less hours of content available to consume."
Additional data came from tracking application Samba TV, which reportedly has over 30 million televisions. While analyzing the Oct. 30 premiere of season 2, Samba found that:
"The season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian drew 1.04 million households, according to Samba TV data provided to Observer. That marks an increase of 73% compared to the show’s season 1 premiere on Nov. 12, 2019."
These numbers and viewership statistics that will likely come as welcome news to Disney executives. While the first season of The Mandalorian was obviously a critical and commercial success, partly due to Baby Yoda, there was a chance that interest in the show could’ve tailed off between seasons. This was especially possible due to the hectic events seen in 2020.
Clearly, Star Wars fans came out in force (no pun intended) to show that they were still every bit as interested to see how Din Djarin would fare in his next series of adventures. The hype for the show seemed to reach a fever pitch after the first episode of season 2 came out, especially with the reveal of a character who appears to be Boba Fett.
Boba is a beloved character in Star Wars canon, and when his return was reported back in May, it undoubtedly raised the in-universe stakes and quelled the desire of longtime fans to see the character come back.
Another data tracking site, Parrot Analytics, found that demand for The Mandalorian is outpacing the season-over-season growth that was seen by critical hits like Netflix’s Cobra Kai and Hulu’s Handmaid’s Tale. If this current trend keeps up, then it may become one of the most in-demand pieces of streaming content ever.
The Mandalorian season 2 is currently streaming on Disney+.