Nielsen Indicates Increased Viewership for ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Over Time
The ratings performance of The Mandalorian‘s most recent batch of episodes has been a mystery to both professional entertainment journalists and fans of the show ever since the March 1 premiere. First, we got word that audience demand for the show was high at the start of the season. Then, Samba TV released a report which indicated lower-than-expected viewership for the premiere of The Mandalorian season 3 compared to the debuts of both season 2 and other live-action Star Wars shows.
A couple weeks later, Nielsen released their report for the week of February 27-March 5. That update showed lower viewership numbers for the third season premiere of The Mandalorian than those of the second season’s debut. More alarmingly, the third season opener had the lowest ratings of any Mandalorian episode since Nielsen started collecting data on the series with its second season.
However, a new update (via Variety) from the company has revealed that The Mandalorian enjoyed a sizable increase in viewership for the week of March 13-19. The third episode of the present season released that week, and the series was viewed for 1.115 billion minutes during those seven days. It was the third most-viewed streaming show of the week, only slightly behind Netflix’s Shadow and Bone and You.
Nielsen’s ratings include viewings of all currently available episodes in a series, not just the most recent one. So, the high number for The Mandalorian measures viewings of Chapter 19 as well as earlier installments. When we take that into account, it’s remarkable that the current season is getting viewing numbers on par with You, which has almost double the number of episodes that The Mandalorian does.
Additionally, this number isn’t just a large step up from the viewership for the season premiere. It also represents one of the best weeks for the series in terms of viewership since Nielsen began measuring streaming ratings in 2020. As some have observed, the only two Mandalorian episodes that recorded higher ratings from Nielsen were Chapters 13 and 16 from season 2. Those episodes introduced fan-favorite characters Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker to the series, respectively, so it makes sense that they’d get a spike in viewership.
It’s important to remember that Nielsen ratings, while useful for getting an idea of how popular a series is with general audiences, don’t tell the whole story of a show’s viewership. Disney Plus, like most streaming services, prefers not to publicly disclose viewership numbers for its series, so we can’t get a complete picture of The Mandalorian‘s performance. That said, these numbers help dispel the narrative that The Mandalorian has been dramatically underperforming in the ratings for its current season.
The series has received some criticism in recent weeks for its slower pace and unfocused narrative, so these numbers may decline in subsequent reports from Nielsen. Then again, Jon Favreau has proven that he can deliver a strong season finale, and this week’s episode was praised for moving the show’s main plot along in satisfying fashion. For all we know, the series’ Nielsen ratings for the next few weeks could approach the highs of the second season’s most-viewed installments. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
