Disney has made a seemingly unprecedented move in revealing that 14 million people watched Star Wars: Ahsoka's premiere episode in its first week worldwide.
The Star Wars website revealed the viewership figures soon after third-party analyst Samba TV estimated 1.2 million households watched Ahsoka's premiere in the U.S. This figure was on track with Samba TV's estimates of Andor but down 50% from Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Disney hasn't revealed official premiere episode viewership numbers for any of its prior Star Wars shows, and its failure to mention how Ahsoka compares to the likes of The Mandalorian and Andor is perhaps telling of its performance.
Disney and Lucasfilm remained positive about the numbers, however, saying Ahsoka's premiere was the "most-watched titled" on Disney+ in the past week.
"Ahsoka has become a fan-favourite with people of all ages and it’s wonderful to see her continue to resonate with viewers in her very own headlining series," said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy
"I want to recognise the fantastic work done by our creative team, led by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the incredible cast led by Rosario Dawson, and our talented crew — and on behalf of the team and all of Lucasfilm, we give our thanks to all the fans who have been with Ahsoka on every step of her journey and to all those who are just learning about her now in Ahsoka on Disney+."
The numbers also come as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are striking over myriad issues including the transparency of viewership numbers and revenue sharing based on performance.
Disney used the same methodology as Netflix does for its shows, by dividing the total viewing time by the run time to reach the 14 million views.
In our 7/10 review of the first two episodes, IGN said: "Dave Filoni’s new Disney+ series Ahsoka has plenty of action but still gets off to a slow start by getting viewers up to speed with the events of Star Wars Rebels."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/disney-takes-unusual-step-by-revealing-star-wars-ahsoka-viewership-figure