‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Bigger Than ‘Mandalorian,’ ‘WandaVision’ Debuts, Says Disney Plus

Citing no concrete numbers, Disney Plus announced on Monday that “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was the streaming service’s most-watched series premiere ever during its opening weekend, exceeding the series premieres for “The Mandalorian” and “WandaVision.”

The series premiere was also the most-watched title overall on the service worldwide, including in the Disney Plus Hotstar markets.

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According to Disney, the “FAWS” series premiere joins the “WandaVision” debut and the Season 2 premiere of “The Mandalorian” as the three most-watched original season openers to date on the service. While certainly a measure of continued interest in Marvel Studios’ new slate of original series for Disney Plus, the honor is somewhat misleading, given the few triple-A titles that have premiered on Disney Plus since its launch in November 2019, especially in comparison to streaming competitors Netflix, Amazon and sister streamer Hulu.

Earlier this month, Disney announced that Disney Plus had topped 100 million subscribers in just over a year. On March 26, the service will increase its monthly fee in the U.S. by $1, to $7.99.

While Disney Plus did not include any audience figures for “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” in its announcement, TV software and data analysis firm Samba TV announced earlier in the day that roughly 1.7 million households watched the show, edging past the 1.6 million households that watched the debut of Marvel Studios’ “WandaVision.” (As a point of comparison, Samba TV estimates that 1.8 million households watched at least five minutes of the four-hour “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” on HBO Max over the same time period; HBO Max has not made any announcements regarding the Snyder cut’s viewership.)

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