The Acolyte, Disney’s newest Star Wars TV show, may be being review-bombed – but new viewership data gives a sense of what’s really going on. The Star Wars fandom has always been prone to division, but Leslye Headland’s Star Wars Disney+ TV show seems to have become a massive flashpoint. The Acolyte has been review-bombed on Rotten Tomatoes; the audience score there now stands at an improbable 14 percent (lower than the ill-fated Star Wars Holiday Special).

New viewership data from Variety gives a sense of what’s really going on, though. Provided by Luminate, this data shows the minutes watched of every streaming original TV show over the period from June 7 to June 13. It’s largely a boost for Netflix, but The Acolyte‘s performance is very interesting indeed.

What Does This Viewing Data Tell Us About The Acolyte?

It’s a mixed picture for the Disney+ TV show

The real winner of the week here is, of course, Netflix – but it’s important to note that Netflix TV shows are boosted by this specific metric. The streaming giant release multiple episodes at a time, whereas The Acolyte – the only entry from any other streaming service – only dropped a single episode last week. This means we’re effectively comparing four episodes of Bridgerton season 3 to just a single Star Wars episode; it’s not like for like.

The next qualification is in terms of the period covered. Luminate’s data runs from June 7 to 13, meaning it covers the weekend after The Acolyte episodes 1 and 2. It’s reasonable to assume a lot of viewers waited until the weekend to check out the latest Star Wars TV show. We won’t really get a measure of the show’s success until there’s more data. Even a comparison of weekends 1 and 2 won’t be representative, because the premiere dropped two episodes and only one released last week. Disney’s release schedule seems almost designed to obfuscate.

Still, Disney will be quite pleased with The Acolyte‘s performance here. The Acolyte is literally the only non-Netflix show to appear in the top ten for that period, suggesting it’s a success. The scale of that success will become clear over the weeks, as we get a sense of whether viewers stuck around or dropped off.

Source: Variety