2024 MCU Shock: ‘Echo’ and ‘Agatha’ Plummet to the Bottom of Viewership Charts!

2024 brought out numerous exclusive series on Disney+’s streaming service, primarily centered around the Marvel and Star Wars universes. The Marvel Cinematic Universe delivered ‘Echo,’ ‘Agatha All Along,’ and a remake of the beloved X-Men show, ‘X-Men ’97.’ Critics generally appreciated these shows, but viewership statistics tell a different story.

Based on Luminate’s data, Disney+’s highly anticipated 2024 Marvel series ‘Echo’ and ‘Agatha All Along’ experienced a drop in viewership compared to the success of 2023 releases like ‘Loki’ and ‘Secret Invasion.’ Interestingly, ‘Secret Invasion,’ while still considered a “hit” somewhat loosely, attracted more viewers than shows from last year.

Last year, ‘Agatha All Along’ was the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most-viewed series, accumulating a total of 2,284 million minutes watched. Coming in second place was ‘Echo’, with 1.537 billion minutes viewed, and ‘X-Men ’97’ trailed closely behind with 1.437 billion minutes watched.

Among the three X-Men series, ‘X-Men ’97’ garnered the most positive critic reviews. However, it remained the least-watched. This observation supports earlier reports suggesting relatively low viewership numbers. It’s worth noting that animated shows tend to attract fewer viewers compared to live-action ones, which likely explains the reviews, the renewal of the show for two more seasons, and its lower viewership statistics.

Regarding the Star Wars universe, the series “The Acolyte,” which has been widely criticized, surprisingly outperformed all Marvel TV shows, securing the second spot with a total view time of 2.673 million minutes watched. Shows such as ‘The Bad Batch,’ ‘Skeleton Crew,’ ‘Ahsoka (2023),’ and ‘The Mandalorian (2023)’ are currently ranking lower on the list.

In contrast to all other Disney+ original shows, the release of ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ in late 2023 overshadowed them significantly. Although the franchise had only two earlier film adaptations, it never received a faithful, author-approved version until now, which likely contributed to its impressive viewership compared to the other shows on the list.

2024’s Luminate Film & TV End-of-Year Report underscores an essential pattern in the entertainment sector, revealing that studios face a significant decision point – whether to expand established franchises further or pour resources into fresh creative concepts.

The report additionally noted that although well-known franchises offer a sense of security, there’s a finite amount of profit they can generate. A drop in viewership indicates that producing too much content under the same franchise without careful oversight might lead to audience disengagement, which we refer to as franchise burnout.

Read More

2025-01-27 13:14