The Book Of Boba Fett Finale Viewership Was 36% Higher Than The Mandalorian Season 2 Finale
You know what? Sometimes, it's good to get a reminder that there's a huge difference between the accepted consensus among those of us who are Extremely Online ... and all the other normal people out there. It's not that social media turned against "The Book of Boba Fett" entirely or anything like that, but a look at fan feedback throughout the season and especially in the aftermath of the finale certainly led many to believe that we shared the common opinion that the show came to a disappointing close. Had general audiences felt the same way, it would be only logical (no, I have no idea when I apparently turned into Spock, either) to assume that the viewership ratings would have reflected this — particularly with the numbers dropping with each episode, until ultimately flatlining with a finale that many must have lost interest in.
That couldn't be further from the truth, however, at least according to one analytics company.
Samba TV has reported its ratings numbers (via Deadline) for the season finale of "The Book of Boba Fett," which clocked in with a final tally of 1.5 million US households who streamed the final episode on Disney+. Titled "In the Name of Honor" and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the concluding chapter ended up 36% higher than the comparable season 2 finale of "The Mandalorian," which aired on December 18, 2020, and tallied a total of 1.1 million households in the US during a five-day total from December 18 to December 22. (If that period of time seems somewhat arbitrary, that's simply Samba TV's standard analytical measurement period for streaming shows.) Needless to say, it's remarkable that "The Mandalorian," commonly perceived as the far more popular and beloved out of the two shows, came in a distant second to "The Book of Boba Fett" — although, in fairness, the arrivals of Baby Yoda and Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin essentially turned it into "The Mandalorian 2.5" by then.
Analyzing the Analytics
So what does all this mean?
First of all, it's important to note that these results stem from a glaringly small sample size. Samba TV's metrics account for 3 million Smart TV customers who watch any given episode for at least five minutes. In that light, remember to take all this for what it's actually worth. This doesn't give us a complete picture of how popular either "The Mandalorian" or "The Book of Boba Fett" truly turned out to be, but it does give us some information on which to base our conclusions of overall trends.
The Deadline report provides at least one possible explanation for the influx of viewers for "The Book of Boba Fett" finale, pointing to the increased number of US-based Disney+ subscribers in the time since "The Mandalorian" aired (which now amounts to 129.8 million worldwide, as of Disney's last quarterly report). At the same time, the numbers also indicate that the finale ratings came in lower than the premiere, which the report notes amounted to 1.7 million households (12% higher than the finale). That said, this is a fairly typical phenomenon with other Disney+ shows like "WandaVision," "The Falcon and the Winter Solider," "Loki," and particularly "Hawkeye" (which faced a similar 13% decline compared to its premiere).
For me, the main takeaway here is that the "Star Wars" brand isn't exactly in any danger of collapse anytime soon, regardless of what some perpetual doomsayers may say on YouTube. Creatively speaking, I continue to have my reservations about the direction these shows continue to take, culminating with a final stretch of episodes in "The Book of Boba Fett" where the creative team inexplicably made it seem as if they'd lost interest in Boba Fett. Meanwhile, the numbers are the numbers, though I'd be interested in seeing Disney release their full metrics so we wouldn't have to rely on third parties to bring us these drips and drabs of information.
In any case, "The Book of Boba Fett" is currently streaming in its entirety on Disney+.