Peacemaker Is The Biggest TV Series In The World Right Now
It's always treacherous diving into the murky waters of Streaming Numbers. Every streaming service wants to claim a victory lap when they have a hit, but at the same time they're reluctant to release actual numbers on the regular. In short, they want to celebrate their wins and hide their losses in obscurity.
The latest bit of news is a Business Insider piece that says HBO Max's "Peacemaker" is the biggest series in the world right now, surpassing "The Book of Boba Fett" on Disney+ and "The Witcher" on Netflix.
Their source is a company called Parrot Analytics, a third party service that measures audience demand. This is already better than a Netflix press release because it's coming from outside the company taking the win, in this case HBO Max, but there's still a lot that is unclear, not the least of which are the actual number of viewers.
Hard Numbers Or Not, Peacemaker Still Rocks
Network TV has a ratings system that shows how successful or not any given show is and gives details on the specific number of viewers. None of that was shown here, just a graph that shows "audience demand" for HBO Max original series is outpacing those of Netflix.
That's not to take anything away from James Gunn's "Peacemaker," which is unquestionably a big hit for HBO Max, probably even bigger than the movie it's a spin-off from. I think the show is great, unapologetically James Gunn-ian in his trademark crude with heart style, and there's not a single character I find dull or uninteresting.
Anecdotally, all my friends, even my most cynical ones, dig the show and there's been nothing but positive talk about it on all my socials since it debuted. Critics love it, DC fans love it, and the average viewer seems to dig it. So, yes, I do believe Parrot Analytics when they say it's the top of the heap right now, but I'd still love to see actual viewership numbers instead of a "trust us, demand is high" statement.
HBO Max Definitely Seems To Be Gaining Steam
The hard numbers that were revealed in the Business Insider piece are very interesting, even if not directly related to the claim that "Peacemaker" is the biggest show on any platform right now. They show a rise in subscriptions for HBO Max, bringing it to 73.8 million subscribers by the end of 2021 (keep in mind that is still combining HBO subscribers via cable and those subscribing specifically to the HBO Max platform). That has HBO Max still trailing Disney+ (at 118 million global subscribers) and Netflix (with 222 million global subscribers), but catching up pretty fast.
Netflix seems to be reaching the limit of who they can get to sign up and HBO Max is still climbing, which isn't a bad position for the company. If "Peacemaker" is going this big, then what's going to happen when their other DC stuff hits? They have a "Green Lantern" show on the horizon as well as a "Justice League Dark" series and a "Batgirl" movie.
So, yes. I believe the future looks bright for HBO Max and especially their DC-related slate and I'm very happy something as bonkers as "Peacemaker" is setting the world on fire. Let's normalize seeing some real eyeballs-on-screens numbers, though. That's all I ask.