Star Wars: Andor Finally Redeems Itself in Streaming Ratings With Finale

Star Wars: Andor reached the number one spot on Nielsen’s streaming chart the week of its series finale, May 12th through May 18th. The show has made a lot of headlines and it’s beloved by fans, but there has been some doubt about its actual success as different trends and viewership metrics surface online. Now, the organization that has measured TV ratings since long before the streaming age has released the full details on that week, and they seem to vindicate Andor. The series was watched for 931 million minutes in total that week, beating out all the other shows Nielsen measured.

Andor was far from a failure over the last three years, but it hasn’t reached the this top spot before, either. Other analytics firms estimated Andor to be the most-watched series of the week when the Season 1 finale ended, but not Nielsen. At the time, there was some talk of “franchise fatigue,” as Season 1 of Andor didn’t quite live up to previous Star Wars series like The Mandalorian.

Season 2 returned with a vengeance. The series saw steadier viewership throughout its season run, which some analysts have attributed to its unique release schedule. Even then, the show did not reach the number one spot for a variety of reasons. There was some competition from other highly-anticipated shows — The Last of Us, for example — but as always, the streaming charts are dominated by shows that people re-watch, and those that children watch frequently.

[RELATED: Andor Creator Apologizes to Star Wars Fans After Season 2 Dashed One Theory]

That’s reflected in the week of May 12th through 18th as well. Andor narrowly surpassed Bluey, which was followed by the Netflix original series Nonnas in the number three spot. After that came Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, You, The Last of Us, The Rookie, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, and finally, the new Netflix series Forever.

Hopefully, producers and streaming executives can glean some useful lessons from the success of Andor Season 2. This take on a streaming release schedule seems to have proven successful, and many commenters online were grateful that the series got 12 episodes rather than ten, eight, or even six as many other shows get these days.

Meanwhile, the story and focus of Andor clearly stands out from other Star Wars productions, and perhaps indicates what fans are looking for most from the franchise. Andor is streaming now on Disney+. Season 1 is also available on Blu-ray, but there’s no word yet on a physical media release for Season 2.