With Ahsoka, Disney+ Has a Chance to Reach Beyond the Star Wars Universe
Photo: Disney+
If we lived in the world of August 2022, back when “peak TV” was truly peaking, the wider television world would probably be bracing itself for the massive impact of Ahsoka. A year ago, this Star Wars vehicle might have been reasonably expected to generate a level of buzz similar to that of The Mandalorian, the TV phenomenon of which Ahsoka is a spinoff, or at the very least, close to what Obi-Wan Kenobi produced.
But in 2023, the entertainment world is in flux — major franchise tentpoles are falling short of studios’ expectations on both big and small screens. Outside the major exceptions Barbie and Oppenheimer, projects like Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts are failing to recoup their huge budgets at the box office. Meanwhile, major TV releases like the third season of Netflix’s The Witcher have failed to generate the kind of enthusiasm or critical praise producers expected. As a streamer whose bread and butter is IP, Disney+ is likely wary of this trend, which means that when it comes to promoting its latest original series, it won’t just rely on the presumed strength of the Star Wars franchise. Marketing this series to the precise audience most likely to enjoy it will be critical to the success of Ahsoka.
What does this audience look like? We explored three fanbases with good reason to check out the show — that of The Mandalorian, of Clone Wars character Ahsoka Tano, and of lead actor Rosario Dawson — and found points of overlap that would allow Disney+ to market the show more efficiently. Read on to see the results of that analysis, as well as some of the Ranker lists on which Ahsoka and her coming spinoff perform best.
Ahsoka premieres August 23 on Disney+
How Ahsoka — and Ahsoka — Rank on Ranker
Photo: Asoka, Disney+
Though Ahsoka hasn’t debuted yet and therefore doesn’t qualify for a lot of our big TV lists, it’s high up on two of our competitive “most anticipated” lists. The show is ranked #2 on The Most Anticipated New Sci-Fi & Fantasy TV Shows Of 2023 (2K votes) and #14 on the more general list of The Most Anticipated New TV Shows Of 2023 (3K votes). That would be impressive enough, but when you take shows off both these lists that have already premiered, the rankings get even better. Ahsoka is #1 on the sci-fi and fantasy list if the front-runner, Apple TV+’s Silo, is removed. On the overall most anticipated of the year list, only The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, The Continental, and Ironheart are ahead of Ahsoka, making it the #5 show.
Meanwhile, the character of Ahsoka Tano has had more time to accumulate upvotes on popular lists. The former Jedi was first introduced to audiences in the animated series The Clone Wars that premiered in 2008, but has since appeared in Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett. The character is incredibly popular, with 70% of the nearly 30,000 votes cast for her indicating positive sentiment. Many of those lists come from The Best (And Worst) Star Wars Characters Ever (1 million votes), where Ahsoka Tano is ranked #12 with nearly 10,000 upvotes. Insights tells us that people under 30 are 2X more likely to vote up Ahsoka on this list, which bodes well for a series that is no doubt hoping to reach younger Star Wars fans.
Who Will Be (or Should Be) Watching Ahsoka?
Drilling beyond the more generic and increasingly diverse audience for the Star Wars franchise in general, there are three audiences Disney+ might consider particularly likely to check out Ahsoka: fans of the titular character, fans of The Mandalorian, and fans of star Rosario Dawson. This Venn diagram visualizes the respective pop culture tastes of each audience and where those tastes overlap.
The fanbases of each individual media property in this diagram can and should be targeted by marketing teams promoting Ahsoka ahead of and throughout the airing of its first season. But for marketers who prefer to direct their campaigns toward more general demographics and audiences, here are a few groups we identified in our research that we feel are worth highlighting.
Gen X and Older Millennials
Disney is almost certainly targeting Gen-Xers when marketing any of its Star Wars properties — after all, the older half of this generational cohort made up the original trilogy’s younger fanbase, while the younger half came of age as the prequel trilogy was being released. But the introduction of Rosario Dawson to the Star Wars universe could potentially unlock a segment of Gen X that might otherwise be less interested in the franchise. Having broken out in the 1995 indie film Kids, Dawson appeals to fans of edgier dramas like Requiem for a Dream and Fight Club. Disney might expand its targeting beyond reliable Star Wars fans ages 40-65 set to build on its subscriber base.
Fans of Darker Sci-Fi
Similar to Gen Xers, when it comes to targeting potential viewers of a new Star Wars series, sci-fi fans are a no-brainer. But once again, the data is telling us that Ahsoka could potentially draw fans who typically prefer sci-fi with more mature themes than what usually characterizes this franchise. Fans of The Mandalorian, for instance, are 5X more likely to also love Paul Verhoeven’s subtle satire Starship Troopers; those who love Ahsoka’s Clone Wars character are 2X more likely to vote up dystopian thriller V for Vendetta on The Best Movies Of All Time (7 million votes); and all three fanbases are at least 2X more likely to enjoy the second film in the horror/sci-fi Alien franchise. Disney has an opportunity to attract sci-fi fans to its streaming platform who don’t always go for PG-13 fare.
Anime Fans
If it doesn’t already, Disney should know that the Clone Wars series it acquired from Netflix, after Netflix bought it from Cartoon Network, has a strong overlap with a lot of anime shows, which makes sense when you consider that Cartoon Network introduced many millennials to anime like Dragonball Z. Those who love Star Wars: The Clone Wars are 4X more likely to love Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, 2X more likely to love Cowboy Bebop, and 2X more likely to love Attack on Titan. Meanwhile, both fans of Ahsoka’s character and of The Mandalorian are more likely to enjoy the classic anime-influenced series Avatar: The Last Airbender. When it comes to targeting millennial and Gen Z audiences to Ahsoka, Disney’s marketing will be more efficient by focusing on young people who grew up watching some of Japan’s most popular animated exports.