‘Our Flag Means Death’ Has Become a Flagship Original Series for Max | Charts

“Our Flag Means Death” debuted in 2022 with a breakout hit first season, but the Max Original series had an atypical path to success — audiences discovered it gradually and continued doing so even after its finale.

That unusual trajectory helped the show to have even longer-lasting demand than series that had more immediately successful premieres.  In its second season, which premiered on Oct. 5, “Our Flag Means Death” is building on that fanbase and reaching new levels of success.

By comparison, two other recent Max shows reveal comparisons that highlight what set the first season of “Our Flag Means Death” apart from other series premieres on the streaming service.  The Elizabeth Olsen-led crime drama “Love & Death” was one of the most in-demand new Max originals to premiere in 2023. In fact, the show was the fifth most in-demand new series overall to premiere in Q2.

We can see that demand in the first two weeks of “Love & Death” and “Our Flag Means Death” followed a similar trajectory, as both shows gradually inched toward 30 times the average series demand. But while “Love & Death” hit a ceiling below 30x demand, “Our Flag Means Death” continued to gain momentum in the following weeks.

The delayed discovery of the show helped “Our Flag Means Death” hold audience attention well after its finale.  Ultimately, demand for the show peaked at 40.8 times the average series demand, 47 days after it premiered.

Contrast this with “Peacemaker,” which had just premiered a few months earlier. The John Cena-led DC superhero series benefitted from being part of one of the biggest franchises and had almost immediate success.  The finale of “Peacemaker” peaked at over 45 times the average series demand, but audience interest in the show rapidly fell off after that point.  The lesson here is that gradually building momentum, as opposed to burning brightly and then rapidly falling off audiences’ radar, can benefit a show in the long run.

Part of the success story of “Our Flag Means Death” centers around the young audience it engaged. Nearly 50% of the audience for the show is Gen Z — a significantly younger audience than the demographics of the audience for Max’s entire catalog. And it was largely this young, engaged fandom that helped make the show a viral hit. With other shows like “Euphoria,” Max has been particularly successful in engaging this youngest demographic.

So far, the second season of “Our Flag Means Death” is exceeding the peak of demand for the show’s first season and has averaged nearly 45 times the average series demand in its first 10 days.

To put this in context, this is about 50% higher demand than the third season of “The Righteous Gemstones” which premiered June 18th. It is also outpacing demand for the third season of “Succession” in 2021.

While demand for the fourth and final season of “Succession” this year eclipsed these other series, the fact that “Our Flag Means Death” is outperforming HBO staples that had an additional season to grow their audience underscores that this swashbuckling rom-com is no longer a scrappy sleeper hit but a flagship original for Max.

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