Disney+'s 'The Mandalorian' Enters Digital Demand Charts at No. 3

Disney+'s flagship show is the best new series launch of the year, but digital demand lags well behind Netflix's 'Stranger Things,' according to figures from Parrot Analytics.

The Mandalorian is killing it online.

The Disney+ original series, a space Western set in the Star Wars universe, shot straight to the top three in the digital demand charts published by online research group Parrot Analytics.

The Mandalorian more than doubled its already high pre-release demand numbers, recording 39.9 million "demand expressions" in its first week of release in the U.S., according to Parrot. Demand expressions is Parrot's metric of online demand, which measures and weights different factors, including streams and downloads of a program, as well as likes and comments on a show.

Among digital original programs, The Mandalorian was the third-most in-demand show of the week, behind DC Universe superhero series Titans, with 57 million demand expressions, and Netflix's Season 3 of Stranger Things, which is miles ahead with 101.6 million demand expressions.

But The Mandalorian was the best performing new streaming debut series of the year with U.S. audiences, according to Parrot, beating out Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, When They See Us, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, as well as Amazon Prime Video's Good Omens.

Parrot noted that The Mandalorian was even more popular with U.S. audiences after four days of release than these other top U.S. streaming debuts were at the same points in their runs. Disney+ is following a more traditional release policy with the show, bowing a new episode per week, unlike Netflix, which drops all episodes of a show simultaneously.

“Given Disney+'s episodic release strategy, we expect demand for The Mandalorian to continue to grow further as new episodes become available to stream over the next several weeks,” Parrot said in its report.

Demand for The Mandalorian is also certain to grow as Disney+ signs up more subscribers. The streaming service racked up an impressive 10 million subscribers on its Nov. 12 launch day in the U.S. and the Netherlands. Further territories will be added in the coming months.

The Mandalorian, which stars Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos) as the titular bounty hunter, is set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi. Jon Favreau is the creator, head writer and showrunner of The Mandalorian and acts as co-executive producer, alongside Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson. Werner Herzog, Carl Weathers, Omid Abtahi, Nick Nolte, Gina Carano, Taika Waititi and Giancarlo Esposito co-star.