The Mandalorian opens the door for Marvel, Star Wars to top streaming charts

Netflix has dominated the streaming world for years, but the success of The Mandalorian has finally opened the door for someone else to take the crown.

As the battle for streaming supremacy rages on, The Mandalorian put the streaming world on notice as it claimed the top spot in the Nielsen streaming ratings chart for the week of December 14-20, the same week Disney+ dropped The Mandalorian season 2 finale. Notably, it was the only non-Netflix show on the list, and the first time a non-Netflix show has been in the top spot.

1. The Mandalorian (Disney+), 1.34 billion minutes watched
2. The Office (Netflix), 1.31 billion
3. The Crown (Netflix), 772 million
4. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 762 million
5. Manhunt: Deadly Games (Netflix), 712 million
6. Supernatural (Netflix), 684 million
7. Virgin River (Netflix), 681 million
8. Criminal Minds (Netflix), 651 million
9. Schitt’s Creek (Netflix), 597 million
10. A California Christmas (Netflix), 581 million

This could open the door for shows and movies on other streaming services and help loosen Netflix’s grip on the market. That’s especially true now that The Office, which was a regular on these charts, has moved from Netflix to Peacock. There’s a big drop between the number 2 and 3 spots on that chart, and that’s where Disney and other streaming services could find their opportunities.

In particular, there could be an opening for all of Disney’s upcoming Star Wars (Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, etc) and Marvel (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, etc) shows. The folks at Disney+ are savvy enough to know that the streaming service needs to produce a lot of high-quality content to make it competitive, and after the success of The Mandalorian the stakes are higher than ever to ensure that the rest of their output achieves similar results. WandaVision, the first Marvel series the company just produced, just started its run on the service. Might it find its way into the top spot on the Nielsen ratings before it’s wrapped? It’s very possible.

As it stands, the streaming charts and the ratings are a mix of new content like The Mandalorian and The Crown and venerated streaming “classics” like Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural and The Office. Disney already has its answer to Netflix’s originals, but there are things it can do about the old standbys as well. For example, it could deliver a big blow if Disney-owned ABC decided to yank Grey’s Anatomy from Netflix in the future.

The bottom line is that if The Mandalorian can not only crack the Nielsen top 10 list but make it to the top, there’s every reason to believe that in a year’s time the streaming charts could look very different as Disney+ rolls out more of its highly anticipated original content.

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