Ahsoka Streaming Estimates Are In: Was The Force Strong For New Disney+ Series?

Media giant The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) continues to work on boosting its subscriber count and subscription revenue from its Disney+ streaming platform, which ended the third quarter with 105.7 million subscribers.

Estimates for the company’s new Star Wars series “Ahsoka” are in.

What Happened: Data from Samba TV shows that the Aug. 22 premiere episode of “Ahsoka" on Disney+ was watched by 1.2 million households over its first five days of availability.

The second episode was watched by 956,000 households over the same time period, as shared by Deadline.

The data puts “Ahsoka” on level with “Andor,” a 2022 Star Wars series also available on Disney+. Viewership for “Ahsoka” was about 50% less than the first episode of “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which premiered in May 2022.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which was also released the same week Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) released the fourth season of “Stranger Things,” saw its premiere episode watched by 2.4 million households.

The premiere viewership for “Ahsoka” also trails the first episode of the third season of “The Mandalorian” by around 29%.

Related Link: May The Force Be With Disney's Stark Wars: Future New Movies, TV Shows and The Return Of Daisy Ridley As Rey

Why It’s Important: Since acquiring Lucasfilm and the Star Wars intellectual property in 2012, Disney continues to expand the Star Wars universe with shows on the Disney+ streaming platform.

Star Wars-themed shows were nominated for 22 Emmy Awards recently and continue to see strong viewership.

The fact that viewership for the “Ahsoka” premiere was on par with “Andor,” but below the other Star Wars shows, may not be the good news that Disney and shareholders needed.

Shares of Disney are down 26% over the last year and down 5% year-to-date.

Disney shares recently reached nine-year lows.

Investors will want to see more hits from Disney in streaming and at the box office going forward.

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