Diving Into Atlanta

Photo: FX

Innovative, ambitious, and unique, FX's Atlanta returns to airwaves for its long-awaited third season in March. Created by and starring multi-hyphenate Donald Glover, the elevated comedy follows Princeton dropout and Atlanta resident Earnest "Earn" Marks as he attempts to navigate his way through the music industry after his cousin, Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), achieves success in the local music scene.

FX is likely over the moon about the premiere of this highly anticipated third season, which comes nearly four years after the end of Season 2. The show has a sizable fan base, according to Insights, getting positive ratings from Ranker voters across the country — though these ratings are stronger in areas like the South and the West Coast, where 61% of pop culture fans approve, than in the Midwest and Mountain regions, where approval is 54%. In the eyes of many critics, the show changed comedy TV, and a reputation like that is bound to bring viewers back for the show’s long-awaited return. 

But a lot can happen in four years. How can the network re-engage fans who may have lost interest? How does FX identify new fans who fell in love with the series in the last four years, and how does it find people who’ve never tried the show, but might be open to binge-watching it ahead of the Season 3 premiere? We’re taking an in-depth look at the Atlanta fan base to help answer these questions and identify some audiences that tend to be drawn to Donald Glover’s surreal comedy.

The third season of Atlanta is set to debut on FX on March 24, and will stream on Hulu. 

Photo: FX

Atlanta on Ranker

Atlanta holds the #1 spot on Ranker’s list of The Best Current Shows That Deal With Millennial Stuff (2K votes), beating out Netflix’s sci-fi mind-bender hit Russian Doll, Hulu’s Ramy, and Canadian juggernaut Letterkenny. Atlanta is also #1 on The Best Black TV Shows In 2020 (3K votes), topping other popular 2020 series from Black creators like FX’s Snowfall, Starz’s P-Valley, and HBO’s I May Destroy You. 

Elsewhere on Ranker, Atlanta sits in the #4 position on our list of The Best Black TV Shows Of 2022 (900 votes), even though it hasn’t debuted new episodes yet. The comedy was edged out by Starz's BMF, but managed to rank above Black-ish, Grown-ish, and Raising Dion. Atlanta also comes in at #4 on The Best Current Black TV Shows (17K votes), and is #10 on Great TV Shows That Are Totally Surreal And Bizarre (4K votes), an all-timer list with such classics as Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which Atlanta beats out by two spots. But in spite of that surreal, out-of-this-world quality, Atlanta is also #6 on What TV Shows Best Represent American Life Today? (10K votes). Those two high, somewhat contradicting rankings indicate just how unique this comedy is.

Who’s Watching Atlanta?

A comedy that is strikingly ambitious and artistic, Atlanta appeals to all different kinds of TV viewers. From those who love sharp and sometimes silly humor to those who seek out Black voices in entertainment, here are a few categories into which many Atlanta viewers fit.

COMEDY CONNOISSEURS 

Fans of Atlanta have a penchant for a specific type of satire associated with highbrow humor, a thinking person’s show that might tickle the deepest part of the cerebral cortex. According to Ranker Insights, these comedy connoisseurs are 8X more likely to enjoy HBO’s Barry, which also features a fish-out-of-water element: a former hitman tries to make his way in the entertainment industry. Fans are also 8X more likely than the average TV viewer to check out Netflix’s Master of None, as well as Netflix’s mind-bending dystopian dramedy Maniac.

These viewers love Atlanta and… Barry, Master of None, Maniac

SUPPORTERS OF BLACK CREATIVES

Fans of Altanta who enjoy the show because of its unique voice tend to value content from creators seeking to accurately portray the Black experience in America. These are shows with Black creatives behind and in front of the camera, producing some of the most powerful storytelling for the small screen today. According to Ranker Insights, people who watch Atlanta are more likely to watch late, great director John Singleton’s Snowfall, Lena Waithe’s The Chi, and Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us. 

These viewers love Atlanta and… Snowfall, The Chi, When They See Us

QUICK-WITTED BANTER BUFFS

Shows that feature characters exchanging witty, fast-paced banter tend to draw in fans of Atlanta. That includes HBO’s Succession and the sitcom classic Arrested Development, two shows that grabbed critics’ attention with their crackling, abrasive inter-sibling dialogue. Fans of Atlanta are also more likely to enjoy HBO’s Veep, another series where characters aren’t able to say two sentences to one another that don’t feature at least one devastating ad hominem attack.

These viewers love Atlanta and… Succession, Arrested Development, Veep

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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