‘Agatha All Along’ Debuts on the Streaming Charts
The Walt Disney Company felt good enough about Agatha All Along’s debut to post a bragging post.
Generally, Disney only does that when something exceeds expectations during its early days of release.
Photo: Marvel
So, we’ve known for a while now that the Kathryn Hahn series performed well…but how well?
Agatha All Along just debuted on the streaming charts, and here’s how it did.
Walking the Witches’ Road
Agatha All Along aired its first two episodes on September 18th, 2024, and Disney quickly hyped its success.
According to the company, the witchy Marvel series earned 9.3 million views in its first week.
Photo: Roku
The report went out of its way to clarify that the stats were for the first episode only, something I described as “somewhat confusing.”
Why wouldn’t Disney list the obviously larger number for both episodes?
Photo: Marvel
Well, that mystery remains even after the Nielsen Streaming Ratings came out for the week of September 16th-22nd.
For the week, Agatha All Along finished eighth on the Originals Chart with 426 million viewer minutes.
Photo: Marvel
I can 100 percent assure you that Disney is happy with this total, and here’s why.
Loki season two claimed 446 million viewer minutes for its season two premiere in November 2023.
Photo: Marvel
This isn’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison, as I’m about to explain, but that’s an impressive holdover. Here’s why.
Disney had performed a similar bragging post about the Loki season two premiere, indicating it gained 10.9 million views.
Photo: Marvel
So, Loki ostensibly did better according to Disney’s metrics, yet Nielsen showed the competition as much closer.
Why is that good? Loki had a previous season, enjoyed a built-in audience, and featured an iconic MCU character.
Photo: Marvel
Also, while I’m a Kathryn Hahn superfan, even I will admit that Tom Hiddleston is an exponentially bigger star.
Loki should have done better than Agatha All Along…and it did.
Photo: Marvel
Due to the show’s exceptional quality, its audience grew in season two, culminating in 753 million minutes for its splendid finale.
Loki season two is right there with WandaVision for the best full season of any Marvel series to date.
The Mystery of Agatha All Along
No, this header doesn’t refer to The Teen, Mephisto, or Wanda Maximoff’s current location.
Instead, I’m referring to the oddity of that second episode of Agatha All Along.
Photo: Disney Cruise Line
Loki only aired one episode during its first week, while the witch series streamed two.
To date, Disney has only addressed the first one, and we may know why now.
Photo: Marvel
People don’t seem to have watched the second episode quickly, at least not on either of the metrics we have available.
I cannot imagine that’s due to the quality of the series premiere, which I recapped on MarvelBlog. It’s phenomenal.
Photo: Marvel
So is the second episode…and the rest of the series to date, for that matter.
This is daring cinema perfectly in spirit as a WandaVision sequel. So, it should be doing well.
Agatha in ‘WandaVision’ | Photo: Marvel
Rotten Tomatoes bears this out, as the show is currently 82 percent fresh on the Tomatometer and 81 percent fresh on Audience Score.
On paper, this looks like a hit, and the first batch of Nielsen ratings bears that out.
Photo: Empire
Still, after what happened with The Acolyte, I’m a bit nervous.
Remember that the Star Wars series collapsed after a strong start.
Photo: Lucasfilm
I wouldn’t expect the same fate awaiting Agatha All Along, but I want to see next week’s numbers.
A big drop would cause some concern. In fact, it’s not guaranteed to chart since it “only” finished eighth this week, albeit against strong competition.
Photo: Marvel
In short, I’ve identified several positives here and am confident that this one will be fondly remembered as an instant masterpiece.
Not all great stories immediately find their audiences, though. And Disney needs a hit here.
Photo: Marvel
So, Agatha All Along needs to sustain interest through its season finale in two weeks.
Disney’s Other Streaming Hits
Otherwise, this was a relatively dull week on the streaming charts.
The start of the NFL season generally causes most catalog titles to decrease in viewership.
Photo: ESPN
I suspect that’s what happened here, but Disney still managed to have three titles in the overall top ten. They are:
- Family Guy – 811 million viewer minutes
- Bluey – 807 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 759 million viewer minutes
Hulu banners
The first two fell, while Bob’s Burgers increased slightly. I blindly speculate the show has fewer football fans as part of its viewer base.
On the Originals chart, Hulu claims two other titles. Only Murders in the Building is holding strong with 497 million viewer minutes.
Photo: Hulu
Meanwhile, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fell off a bit with 392 million viewer minutes. It was a binge release. So, that’s to be expected.
Disney had three other shows appear on the Acquired Chart, giving its content 60 percent of the top ten. Those titles are:
- Grey’s Anatomy – 600 million minutes
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – 549 million minutes
- Prison Break – 509 million minutes
Hulu banners
The short-lived Prison Break fever appears to have broken. I suspect people remembered how bad the show got after season one.
Finally, Disney only had one film on the Movies chart. It was Moana with a modest 152 million minutes.
Photo: Disney
That’s one of the lowest numbers ever for a top-ten performance on the Movies chart.
Disney must renew the hype as Moana 2’s release date approaches in a month.
MOANA 2 – © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Finally, as an FYI, next week’s chart will include Inside Out 2. So, Disney will likely win the Movies chart then.
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