'The Mandalorian' Broke The 'Stranger Things' Streak As The Most In-Demand Streaming Series

Even if you haven't seen Stranger Things, you probably know the Netflix series is one of the most popular streaming original shows on the market. But this week, the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian finally surpassed the series as the most in-demand original streaming show in the United States, breaking a streak of 21 weeks.

Parrot Analytics, a company that provides insight into audience demand for television content, had Stranger Things at the top of their in-demand list of streaming shows in the U.S. for 21 weeks, since its debut back in July. This is determined by measuring what they call "demand expressions," which is meant to reflect the desire, engagement, and viewership of a series weighted by importance. It's extremely different from your average ratings system typically done by Nielsen.

For the week of November 17 to November 23, Parrot Analytics had The Mandalorian making over 100 million "demand expressions," but Stranger Things only had 81 million. And that's how The Mandalorian upset the folks in Hawkins, Indiana.

Parrot Analytics said in a statement accompanying their numbers (via Business Insider): "While demand is a metric that should not be confused with subscriber numbers, this is a strong indication that the 'Star Wars' series is driving a lot of sign-ups to the recently-debuted Disney Plus service."

This should come as no surprise since Disney+ downloads reached 3.2 million on the first day it was available. They even added another 10 million subscribers in the 24 hours that followed, and surely they've added plenty more since then. When you have that many people picking up a new streaming service, they're eventually going to find their way to the first live-action Star Wars series. Unfortunately, Disney has already said they don't intend to release any information on a specific show's ratings, though they will give such numbers to the creative talent involved on a given series. So this data from Parrot Analytics is all we have for the time being.

Much of the hype around The Mandalorian right now can probably be attributed to how totally adorable the little Baby Yoda character is. But even beyond that, this series is digging into parts of the Star Wars universe that we haven't extensively explored in the live-action world before, and that's very exciting for longtime fans.

A fourth episode of The Mandalorian arrives this Friday, November 29.