“When They See Us,” the controversial miniseries about the Central Park Five that was created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix, shot up to No. 2 on Parrot Analytics’ digital originals chart the week ended June 8.
The four-episode drama series is based on the notorious 1989 Central Park jogger case, in which five juveniles – four black and one Latino – were sent to prison for allegedly raping a white woman jogger. They were exonerated after the real rapist confessed, but by then had already served their time.
In the week since the program’s May 31 debut, the number of average daily Demand Expressions soared 170% to 52.5 million, sending the series to No. 2 from No. 13 on the digital originals chart – right behind “Stranger Things,” which remains at No. 1 for the third consecutive week.
Demand Expressions is a proprietary Parrot Analytics metric that draws from a wide variety of data sources, including video streaming, social media activity, photo sharing, blogging, commenting on fan and critic rating platforms, and downloading and streaming via peer-to-peer protocols and file sharing sites.
A “digital original” is a multi-episode series in which the most recent season was first made available on a streaming platform such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu.
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“When They See Us” has generated a flood of media coverage in recent weeks. Most recently, prosecutor Linda Fairstein, who as head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s sex-crimes unit played a key role in prosecuting the five young men, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece blasted the series as a “fabrication” and maintained that the suspects’ exoneration doesn’t mean they aren’t guilty of other crimes they were convicted of at the time.
The five were part of a group of about 30 teenagers in Central Park on the evening of April 19, 1989, when several people in the park were robbed and assaulted.
Demand for “Stranger Things” was relatively unchanged from the prior week. “Lucifer,” based on a character from the DC Comics comic-book series “The Sandman,” slipped to No. 3 despite a 4% uptick in demand – likely triggered by word that Netflix has renewed the show for a fifth and final season.
A 68% surge in average daily Demand Expressions sent “Black Mirror” back up to No. 4 from No. 8 the prior week. The British sci-fi anthology series from Charlie Brooker returned to Netflix for a fifth season on June 5.
Rounding out the top five on the weekly digital originals chart was Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” up from No. 6 the prior week with a 39% spike in demand. The dystopian drama’s third season also premiered on June 5.
Two other series made it into the top 10 on Parrot Analytics’ digital originals chart with significant increases in demand.
Debuting at No. 6 was Amazon Prime Video’s “Good Omens,” a six-part miniseries starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant as angels seeking to prevent the apocalypse. All six episodes of the series were released on May 31, leading to a 93% gain in average daily Demand Expressions.
Returning to the top 10, at No. 10, was “Swamp Thing,” with a 116% spike in demand. The live-action DC Universe series premiered May 31 and was canceled a week later, with word that there would be no second season.
“Swamp Thing” was the third show to launch on DC Universe after “Titans” and “Doom Patrol” both enjoyed successful launches.
Media Play News has teamed with Parrot Analytics to provide readers with a weekly top 10 of the most popular digital original TV series in the United States, based on the firm’s proprietary metric called Demand Expressions, which measures global demand for TV content through a wide variety of data sources, including video streaming, social media activity, photo sharing, blogging, commenting on fan and critic rating platforms, and downloading and streaming via peer-to-peer protocols and file sharing sites.
The hit Netflix series “Lucifer” revolves around Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), the DC Universe’s version of the devil, who leaves hell for Los Angeles, where he runs the Lux nightclub and consults for the Los Angeles Police Department. The first three seasons were broadcast on Fox, and after being canceled, the series was picked up by Netflix for another three-season run.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release Lucifer: The Complete Fourth Season through digital retailers May 11, and on DVD May 12. Warner Archive will release the season on Blu-ray.
