Data analytics firm Nielsen released their data for the week The Acolyte had its two episode premiere and it confirms Star Wars fans are abandoning the franchise. Not only are they abandoning the franchise, but the series is one of the least watched live-action Star Wars premieres on Disney+ based on minutes watched.
(L-R): Qimir (Manny Jacinto) and Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Nielsen reported that the show only garnered 488 million minutes watched for its two episode premiere at the beginning of June.
Nielsen Top 10 Original Streaming Data for the week of June 3-9, 2024
READ: ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Episode 6 Falls Off Top 10 Chart For Streaming Originals
For comparison, Ahsoka, which arrived on Disney+ in August 2023, had a two-episode premiere that had 829 million minutes watched. The total minutes watched between Ahsoka and The Acolyte’s premiere is over an over 40% decline.
There is one big caveat. Ahsoka’s two episodes had a total runtime of 101 minutes compared to The Acolyte’s 82 minutes. However, even if you use Disney’s simple total minutes viewed divided by total run time, Ahsoka’s viewership comes out to 8.2 million views compared to The Acolyte’s 5.4 million. That’s a 34% decline.
(L-R): Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and First Officer Vic Hawkins (Nican Robinson) with New Republic Security Guards in Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©. Nielsen reported the one episode premiere garnered 823 million minutes watched. Like with Ahsoka, it is an over 40% decline in total minutes watched.
However, it gets even more bleak once you realize the premiere episode was only 37 minutes long. That means by Disney’s calculations it would be 22.2 million views. That’s a 75.6% decline.
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(Center): Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
If it was not already clear that The Acolyte is performing badly, Andor, which had a three episode premiere back in September 2022, hits the point home. According to Nielsen, the three episode premiere brought in 624 million minutes watched. That’s a 21.7% decline.
However, the total run time for all three episodes is 123 minutes. By Disney’s calculations that’s 5.07 million views. That’s actually a 6% increase.
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
You might be asking, ‘How is that bad if it had a slight increase compared to Andor?’ Well, that’s because the Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy admitted the show was “chasing the audience.”
Gilroy told Variety, “I think I was surprised. I thought the show would go the other way, that we would have this gigantic, instantaneous audience that would just be everywhere, but that it would take forever for non-‘Star Wars‘ people or critics or my cohort of friends to get involved in the show.”
“The opposite happened. We ended up with all this critical praise, all this deep appreciation and understanding from really surprising number of sources, and we’re chasing the audience,” he admitted.
(L-R): Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
On top of this, X user NowItsKnown also points out that Andor released on a Wednesday while The Acolyte released on a Tuesday. That means that The Acolyte had an extra day of data collection during its premiere week compared to Andor.
#DisneyPlus #StarWars Debut Comparison#TheAcolyte 2Eps* Total Runtime 78Mins#Andor 3Eps** Runtime 117Mins#Ahsoka 2Eps* Runtime 97Mins
*Tuesday Debut,+1 additional day of total viewership compared to Andor
**Wednesday Debut@wdwpro1 @JonasJCampbell @CultureCasino @jftrent… pic.twitter.com/5bP9TjThOT— MAC (@NowItsKnown) July 9, 2024
Looking further back, Obi-Wan Kenobi had a two-episode premiere in May 2022. Nielsen reported it raked in 1.026 billion minutes watched. That’s a decline of 56.7% in minutes watched.
Given the first two episodes have a total run time of 98 minutes, the views for the show comes out to 10.8 million. That’s a 50% decline from The Acolyte.
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his eopie in a scene from Lucasfilm’s OBI-WAN KENOBI, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
The Book of Boba Fett had a one episode premiere that raked in 389 million minutes watched in December 2021. The Acolyte’s total minutes watched is actually 14.1% higher than The Book of Boba Fett.
However, the total views for the show comes in at 9.725 million views given the premiere episode only had a run time of 40 minutes. That’s a 44.4% decline to The Acolyte.
(L-R): Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) and Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) in Lucasfilm’s THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, exclusively on Disney+. © 2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
Finally, The Mandalorian Season 2 premiered with a single episode back in October 2020. Nielsen reported it raked in 1.031 billion minutes watched. That’s a 56.9% decline.
The first episode of The Mandalorian Season 2 had a 55-minute episode. That means total views based off Disney’s calculations comes to 20.62 million. That’s a 73.8% decline.
The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and the Child in THE MANDALORIAN, season two. © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
It’s abundantly clear that viewership for Disney Star Wars shows on Disney+ have fallen off a cliff over the last year. No longer are the shows bringing in around 20 million views based on Disney’s calculations. It’s not even bringing in Ahsoka numbers.
What do you make of these viewership numbers for The Acolyte?
