Streaming Wars • January 2023
The Last Of Us Has Buzz, But Can’t Beat Resurgent House of the Dragon
Plus, Wednesday’s phenomenal rise turns out to be short-lived, and a host of new releases compete for top spots.
HBO’s big release in January was The Last of Us, a post-apocalyptic zombie thriller based on a popular video game series. The show has premiered to positive reviews and plenty of excitement from viewers, evidenced by its debut at #4 on the Watchworthy leaderboards. That said, it seems fair to say that The Last of Us is no House of the Dragon.
The Game of Thrones prequel topped the charts the month of its debut, and amazingly, it returned to the #1 spot in January, beating out champion Wednesday. The immense popularity of House of the Dragon accounts for continued interest in the 2022 title, though it’s worth noting that people were particularly interested in fantasy in January.
Photo: The Witcher: Blood Origin, Netflix
Viewers’ Appetite for Fantasy Was Huge in January
Is it possible that the gray doldrums of winter inspire TV viewers to seek out lush fantasy worlds on their small screens? House of the Dragon came roaring back to first place, and its rival, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, jumped back onto the Top 20 after disappearing from it in November. Meanwhile, The Witcher: Blood Origin debuted at #15, ahead of another fantasy favorite returning to the Top 20, The Sandman. The Last of Us had a great first month, to be sure, but perhaps it didn’t debut at #1 because its premise about a world-disrupting virus didn’t seem so fantastical to viewers — even if the show’s virus happens to create bloodthirsty zombies.
Photo: Poker Face, Peacock
Peacock’s Drought Continues, But for How Long?
January marks the fifth month since Peacock has had a show on the leaderboards. Back in August, sci-fi-infused drama The Resort debuted at #12, only to fall out of the Top 20 the next month. Since then, A Friend of the Family, Last Light, and Irreverent have all premiered without ranking within the first 20 spots of the Watchworthy leaderboards. In January, the quirky, talked-about docuseries Paul T. Goldman failed to come within the Top 50, as did NBC’s reboot of Night Court that streams on Peacock.
There’s still hope for the streamer in February, though. Poker Face, an hourlong mystery series starring Natasha Lyonne and directed by Glass Onion’s Rian Johnson, could very well stop Peacock’s drought from reaching the six-month mark. Despite premiering on January 26, it managed to rank #29 overall, ahead of ABC’s well-marketed entry Will Trent and Sheridanverse creation Tulsa King.
Photo: Mayfair Witches, AMC
Lots of New Blood on the Top 20, But Who Will Stick Around?
The Last of Us may be the most popular new show on the leaderboards, but it’s far from the only one. Over a quarter of the series on the Top 20 are new, a segment including a pack of four shows — Kaleidoscope, Mayfair Witches, 1923, and The Witcher: Blood Origin — that are neck and neck after premiering around the beginning of the month. Which ones will build momentum and stick around?
The “common sense” bet would be on franchise additions 1923 and Blood Origin, but Mayfair Witches has more watchlist adds than any of these four series, while Kaleidoscope is getting the most search traffic. These two metrics indicate a lot of intention on the part of users and could signal that there’s real buzz being developed around the titles. Another show to watch is That ’90s Show, which managed to place in the Top 20 despite premiering more than halfway through the month.
Photo: 1923, Paramount+
1923’s Underwhelming Start Suggests Sheridan Is Mortal After All
The Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren vehicle 1923 put up a decent performance in January, but considering its star power and association with massively popular Yellowstone, it certainly could have done better. With 1883 aged out of the leaderboards, Tulsa King out of the Top 50, and Mayor of Kingstown nowhere to be seen, showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s status as a hitmaker isn’t reflected in the Watchworthy data. That said, 1883 had a slow and unsteady rise after its premiere, suggesting that Paramount+ may yet reap the fruits of its serious investment in Sheridan.
Our Methodology
In 30 seconds, our Watchworthy recommendation app learns your taste in TV and gives every show a “Worthy Score” specifically for you: the higher a given show’s Worthy Score, the more likely it is you will enjoy that show. Each month we track user engagement across thousands of series for every major streaming service. All of these signals are combined into a single metric called Watchworthy Engagement. This enables Ranker to determine which service’s content has the highest engagement — in other words, the streaming platforms who are winning the Streaming Wars.
The Top 20 shows measures which new series (premiered two years ago or later) are garnering the most Engagement from our users month to month. The most Watchworthy platform measures Engagement across all TV shows, new and old, and aggregates them according to the platform they stream on.
