Marvel's Daredevil type TV Show network Netflix genre Superhero

Daredevil was always suspected to be the most popular of Netflix’s Marvel titles, but some new data suggests it was one of the most popular titles across the entire streaming service.

Despite Netflix canceling the show, Daredevil ranked fourth among all Netflix content last week, according to Parrot Analytics, which purports to accurately tally the streaming service’s content popularity. And that placement wasn’t due to some huge surge in the wake of the show’s Nov. 29 shock cancelation either — the superhero drama only climbed 2 percent from the week before the news broke.

The third and final season was released Oct. 19, however, so new Daredevil episodes were still pretty fresh on the service, and perhaps Netflix felt that, given the show’s cost, it really should be No. 1.

According to the data, Narcos (presumably including the latest edition, Narcos: Mexico) was on top with 36 million “demand expressions,” followed by the recently launched Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (34 million) and then — rather surprisingly given it’s been a year since its last season — Stranger Things (31 million) and then Daredevil (30 million). Narcos: Mexico, by and by, just received a season 2 renewal.

Netflix has disputed the idea that any outside service can truly calculate its numbers — the service does not release its metrics aside from making occasional claims during investor conference calls — but Parrot claims to “accurately measure content demand using an array of global data source inputs every day.”

The Daredevil cancelation shocked fans even though Netflix had also axed fellow Marvel titles Iron Fist and Luke Cage in recent months. Netflix hasn’t expressly given a reason for the cancelation, but there’s been speculation that a gradual content divorce is happening between Marvel parent Disney and Netflix due to the former’s upcoming launch of its own streaming service, Disney+. Another theory is that the cost-benefit balance for the expensive shows — which were based on deals set up early in Netflix’s content ascension — are simply no longer worth it for the streaming service at this point.

Marvel has assured fans the character will continue somehow.

“Marvel is extremely grateful to the huge audience that loved Marvel’s Daredevil,” reads Marvel’s statement. “From the moment of young Matt’s first act of heroism to the birth of Page, Murdock, & Nelson, it has been an unbelievable journey. We are incredibly proud of the amazing showrunners and writers starting with Drew Goddard and Steven DeKnight, Marco Ramirez and Doug Petrie and Erik Oleson, Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Vincent D’Onofrio and our casts who brought our characters to life with such excellence, and every one of the fantastic crews in NYC. We look forward to more adventures with the Man without Fear in the future.”

Netflix did not comment.

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