Ahsoka isn’t the biggest hit in Star Wars history but is opening on par with an Emmy-nominated series.
A new report from Deadline breaks down the viewership numbers for Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 1 and notes that “Samba TV reports that the Live+5 day viewership for the first episode of Disney+/Lucasfilm’s new series Ahsoka drew 1.2M households.”
The numbers put the live-action sequel series about even with Star Wars: Andor, which also pulled in 1.2M households over its live+5 day. It’s down by 50% from the Live+5 day of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Same with the first episode of Season 3 of The Mandalorian, down about 29% from the reporter Samba TV numbers.
Samba TV’s VP of Measurement Products, Cole Strain, notes: “Disney+ continues to find success with live-action Star Wars series, with Ahsoka serving as the latest show to draw in more than 1 million households across its first six days. Rosario Dawson’s portrayal of the Jedi shows that not only are fans eager for more adventures in the Star Wars universe, but that they’ll gladly watch shows led by female characters. With women serving as five of the six main characters, this opens a new chapter in the Star Wars saga.”
Deadline notes that Samba TV’s research panel includes 3 million smart TVs and is “nearly 100 times larger than Nielsen’s household footprint of 45K homes.”
While these numbers don’t represent the show’s quality, they give fans and the studio an idea of where it stands in pop culture. Ahsoka is not a massive hit right out of the gate, but positive word-of-mouth and the future appearances of Hayden Christiansen will likely draw up more interest.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Ahsoka’s first two episodes here
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Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
Ahsoka stars Rosario Dawson as the titular Ahsoka Tano, Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger, Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn, David Tennant as Huyang, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Diana Lee Inosanto as Morgan Elsbeth and Ivanna Sakhno as Shin Hati.
Star Wars: Ahsoka debuts new episodes on Disney+ on Tuesdays.