The Most Watched Programs on Disney+ in 2023

Since the inception of Disney+, fans have spent literally millions of hours consuming their favorite content.

The streaming service offers the entirety of the Disney Vault, and it creates new programming each month as well.

So, people tend to cycle between the classics and the new hotness, as you’re about to see.

Here are the 12 Disney+ programs subscribers watched the most in 2023.

Ahsoka

Technically a spinoff of The Mandalorian, the roots of this series date back to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

The conceit here is that the main character once trained under the tutelage of one Anakin Skywalker. So, yeah. Things went bad for her.

Audiences flocked to new episodes of Ahsoka during the fall. Part of the show’s appeal is that Hayden Christensen returned to the role of Anakin.

This title hung around the top ten on the Nielsen streaming charts for several weeks, while other media tracking services rank it even higher.

Avatar: The Way of Water

Toward the end of the pandemic, Disney finally released the long-awaited sequel to Avatar.

The 13-year gap between the titles didn’t hurt Avatar: The Way of Water in the least. In fact, absence made the heart grow fonder.

During its theatrical run, the Avatar sequel became one of the top three box office blockbusters of all time.

For several weeks after its theatrical release, fans frantically searched to learn when it would debut on Disney+.

Once the program arrived, it dominated the charts for a month and hung around for more than six months after the film’s release.

The Bear

I’m switching the format a bit this year, as I’m including Hulu releases for the first time.

The explanation here is that Disney+ has added a Hulu tile. Not too long from now, the streaming services will be synonymous.

So, I might as well get with the program and start discussing them now.

Fortuitously, this decision works well for me as the two most popular Hulu programs this year happen to be among my favorites.

One of them is The Bear, an intense series about a world-renowned chef who returns home to run his late brother’s sandwich shop.

In season two, the series attempts a pivot as the family rebuilds after a fire.

The former restaurant is turning into a fine-dining experience, as long as they get the permits.

What follows next is a surprisingly dramatic series of triumphs and setbacks on the way to opening night.

The Bear is absolutely spectacular television, but it’s…a lot. This season, people proved more willing to binge, which wasn’t true in 2021.

Bluey

If you ever read MickeyBlog’s Nielsen ratings updates, you know the deal here.

Everything else I’m discussing on this list is playing for second place.

THE most popular series on Disney+ by faaaaaaar is Bluey.

For a time, the Mickey Mouse Club and The Simpsons were nearly as popular, but Bluey distanced itself from the pack in 2023.

Elemental

Here’s another title that has come up frequently during the streaming ratings discussions.

Few people are aware of this fact, but Encanto is among the most popular movies of all time on streaming.

The film found second life on Disney+ and then dominated the streaming charts for nearly four months. It’s like the streaming equivalent of Titanic’s box office.

History somewhat repeated itself in 2023, as the latest Pixar film turned into a streaming juggernaut.

For whatever reason, Pixar titles have always scored well on the streaming charts.

Since fewer people watched Elemental in theaters than with most Pixar releases, more of them discovered the title on Disney+.

Elemental debuted on the service on September 13^th. It has finished as one of the top ten movies on the streaming charts EVERY week since then.

This one’s quietly a blockbuster.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Of course, some of the more conventional patterns held in 2023 as well.

When Disney+ debuted, executives announced that the service would lean into its most popular brands. Those are Star Wars and Marvel.

Not coincidentally, two Star Wars series and three MCU programs earn a spot on this list.

If I’d stretched the list to 15, Marvel would have claimed another with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Instead, only one MCU film earns a spot this year, and it’s the obvious one.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was Disney’s most popular title this year, and its success translated to streaming as well.

Haunted Mansion

Meanwhile, Haunted Mansion *ahem* wasn’t quite as successful during its theatrical run.

However, Disney+ offered the title on streaming during October, the time of year when audiences want to feel spooked.

The end result is that while Haunted Mansion barely outperformed a classic, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas, it still finished 12^th for the year.

Loki

In terms of success stories, I’d argue that Loki surpasses even Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 this year.

Now, anyone dealing with money would disagree with me since the third Guardians film made a mint.

When we evaluate which title means the most to Marvel right now, Loki wins, though.

I say this because the second season proved nearly perfect and ended brilliantly.

Even better, the finish bookends perfectly with the start of the series. So, Marvel has created a tidy two-season series worthy of your attention.

The proof of the success was visible on the streaming charts. That final episode caused a spike in overall viewership that lasted for two weeks afterward.

Fans watched the finale and then rewatched the series to appreciate all the subtle details.

Disney+ needs more of this.

The Mandalorian

When we talk about content created exclusively for Disney+, The Mandalorian surpasses Loki, though. In fact, it surpasses everything.

The three seasons of this series have proven wildly popular, and we all know the reason why. It’s Baby Yoda. (I’m not calling him Grogu.)

While fans assailed the third season as uneven, they still watched so much that one streaming tracking service called it THE most popular show.

That statement doesn’t align with what I’ve tracked, but it underscores just how popular The Mandalorian has become since its start in 2019.

Moana

I struggle to call a 2016 release a classic, but it did come out more than seven years ago.

At the time, Disney+ didn’t even exist yet. Nowadays, Moana has become comfort food for an entire generation of adults and their children.

Throughout the year, Nielsen tracks Moana with roughly two million weekly views. That’s a LOT of You’re Welcome. And I’m good with that.

Only Murders in the Building

Here’s the only Hulu blockbuster on the list. Another, The Handmaid’s Tale, would have earned a spot if we stretched it out to 15 titles.

Instead, we’ve stuck with 12, one of which is the popular whodunit series starring Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short.

Viewers raved about the third season, which added Paul Rudd (!) and Meryl Streep (!!!) to the cast.

The show already features stars with multi-generational appeal. Adding Ant-Man and the world’s greatest living actor feels like overkill.

Not coincidentally, people watched Only Murders in the Building. PS: You should, too.

Secret Invasion

Finally, we have what I’d consider the surprise of the list.

Despite its lackluster quality – and that’s me being polite to say lackluster – Secret Invasion still attracted plenty of viewers.

Part of the series’ appeal stemmed from early marketing for it. Marvel promised the Disney+ equivalent of Avengers: Endgame.

Suckers like me fell for it, although we quickly realized that we’d been hoodwinked.

By episode four, Secret Invasion had showed it wasn’t up to snuff. Once the show ended, I actively disliked it…and I’m the MarvelBlog guy!

Still, enough people stuck with Secret Invasion until the end that it held a spot as one of the most watched programs on Disney+…barely.

This one finished 11^th among the titles this year, which is still really good.

Somehow, I doubt it’ll have the staying power of Moana, though…

So, there you have it. These are the most popular streaming series on Disney+ and Hulu for 2023.

What do you think will happen in 2024? I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Pixar’s Win or Lose and Deadpool 3 will appear.

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Feature Photo: Disney/Marvel