Lucasfilm recently released an official statement about the Ahsoka series on Disney+, detailing the premiere's viewership numbers.
Ahsoka is off to a hot start on Disney+ as the former Jedi, alongside Natasha Liu Bordizzo's Sabine Wren, is on the hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger. The first two episodes already premiered on the streaming platform, making history as the first Disney+ titles to debut on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Both critics and fans seemed to enjoy the first two installments of the series, even though they did include some head-scratching moments for those who enjoy the prequel trilogy.
Samba TV recently reported that Ahsoka had only been watched by 1.2 million viewers in its first six days on Disney+, causing concern among fans due to past Star Wars shows, such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, garnering higher viewership. Lucasfilm has since released its own audience numbers, adding further context to how Ahsoka performed on its debut.
Lucasfilm Releases Ahsoka Viewership
In an official statement from Lucasfilm, via the Star Wars website, it was revealed that the premiere episode of Ahsoka garnered 14 million views in its first week on the Disney+ streaming service, making the show the most-watched project on the platform during that time period.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy also gave an official quote that was included in the statement talking about the show's success where she credited its cast and crew:
"Ahsoka has become a fan favorite with people of all ages and it’s wonderful to see her continue to resonate with viewers in her very own headlining series. I want to recognize the fantastic work done by our creative team, led by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the incredible cast led by Rosario Dawson, and our talented crew — and on behalf of the team and all of Lucasfilm, we give our thanks to all the fans who have been with Ahsoka on every step of her journey and to all those who are just learning about her now in 'Ahsoka' on Disney+."
It is important to note that neither Star Wars nor Disney has ever released its own official viewership numbers publicly following a project's premiere, so it is impossible to truly judge how successful Ahsoka was in comparison to other past Star Wars projects on Disney+.
Is Ahsoka a Success?
Since Disney has never released any official viewership numbers for its shows in the past, it is hard to gauge just how well Ahsoka is truly performing.
However, Samba TV reported that it was watched by 1.2 million viewers in the U.S., and that company has reported on other projects' viewership numbers in the past, so at least those can be put side-by-side.
For example, Ahsoka's 1.2 million U.S. viewers (according to Samba TV) in its first six days were lower than The Mandalorian Season 3's premiere numbers (1.6 million in its first four days). Season 3 of that show was even lower than Season 2 (2.08 million in its first four days), which was just slightly lower than the debut of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2.14 million in its first four days).
The Book of Boba Fett also boasted a higher number of U.S. viewers than Ahsoka in its first six days when it accrued 1.9 million viewers.
Based on these numbers, Ahsoka's premiere wasn't able to live up to the debuts of the other Star Wars shows on Disney+. The number is still above 1 million, which is higher than a couple of the MCU shows on the platform, but it still didn't reach its full potential when compared to other Star Wars projects.
It is possible that the series did extremely well in other parts of the world and that it outperformed the other Star Wars titles so much in other countries that Ahsoka now has the most-viewed premiere episode.
As previously stated, it is impossible to truly know that, though, since Disney never revealed official numbers for the other projects.
However, if Ahsoka did garner 14 million views worldwide in its first week on Disney+, it would have to be seen as a success. It is unclear if Disney will continue to release the official numbers for Ahsoka episodes as they come out, or if this was a one-time deal.
Ahsoka is available to stream on Disney+.
