Andor closes out the series with a win—well, sorta—as the final three episodes of Season 2 topped the Nielsen charts. I can’t even remember the last time that happened for a Star Wars show. Maybe The Mandalorian?
Disney actually took the top two spots, with Bluey coming in at #2, which regularly charts on Nielsen.
If you read the trades and shill Reddit subs, you’d think the viewership ratings for Andor are the cat’s meow. However, it’s more of a pipe dream.
Andor Finale Hits Nielsen Peak With 931 Million Minutes
Nielsen released the numbers for the week of May 12–18, which covers the release of the final three episodes starting May 13. Andor topped the chart with 931 million minutes viewed, which I believe is also a season and series best.
Breaking It Down: Andor’s Per-Episode Numbers Fail To Chart
However, is that really a good number? Not exactly. That’s basically three hours of TV, so if you break it down, the three episodes average around 311 million minutes each. On their own, individual episodes wouldn’t have even made the Originals chart that week.
Take The Last of Us for an example. Even with viewership down, it still pulls more than double Andor’s numbers when you average it per episode. If HBO had dropped the first three episodes all at once, Andor would be in the gutter.
Disney Burned $650M on Andor
Tony Gilroy recently revealed that Disney spent $650 million on the series, and that Disney is broke AF.
With viewership as low as it was, it’s hard to argue that the cost was worth it. You’ll probably never see another series like Andor on Disney+ again.
Budgets slashed and content reduced
Instead, Disney has slashed budgets and cut content. That’s why the recent Marvel shows all look super low-budget, including Daredevil: Born Again, Agatha, and Echo. The days of the $200 million+ shows are gone. No idea how Ahsoka is going to look.
Buy, hey? A win’s a win, right?
