Disney Reports 4.8 Million Views for The Acolyte

Television

Deadline shared Disney+’s purported viewership of 4.8 million in one day for The Acolyte’s series premiere. For reference, Ahsoka amassed about 14 million views in 5 days. Disney+ hasn’t been very consistent or transparent with their streaming numbers, and they seem to only report on titles that do well. The Acolyte, the streamer’s latest Star Wars show, is created by Lesley Headland and stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Dafne Keen, and more. It takes place 100 years before the Star Wars prequels and concerns an investigation into the murder of various Jedi masters. 

I never know how genuine these reports are because only Disney knows for sure, and they always come off as a little shady. It would be easier to contextualize these numbers if Disney were more forthcoming more often, but that’s not what they want, is it? This video by Valliant Renegade offers some details, like Disney not clarifying if these are domestic or global numbers; if it’s 4.8 million globally, that’s not that great. Additionally, House of the Dragon pulled in 10 million viewers on the Sunday night that show premiered, much more impressive than 4.8 for a whole day. Apparently, Ahsoka’s premiere was very front-loaded, with most people watching in the first day or two, and this is common for their shows. It’s telling that they would obfuscate this detail by giving a 5-day total for that show. Comparatively, Nielsen and even Samba TV offer distinctions between domestic and global views, and they also measure views differently than Disney. Instead of gauging how many hours were watched, Disney counts a person watching half or more as a view. It’s very strange and seemingly designed to confuse the audience, propping up certain shows as performing better than they really are. 

What do you think? Does this mean anything to you? Have you watched The Acolyte? Let us know in the comments!