‘Ahsoka’ Premiere Viewership Numbers Worse Than ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 And ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ According To New Nielsen Numbers

John F. Trent |

Sep 22, 2023

Ivanna Sakhno as Shin Hati impales Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren in Ahsoka (2023), Lucasfilm

New Nielsen numbers reveal that the premiere viewership of Ahsoka was far worse than The Mandalorian Season 2 and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Nielsen reports that Ahsoka viewership clocked in at 829 million minutes viewed for the week of August 21 through August 27th, the week that Lucasfilm released the first two episodes of the series onto Disney+.

This is less than premieres for The Mandalorian Season 2 and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Mandalorian Season 2 had a premiere of 1.030 billion minutes back in 2020. Of note, the premiere numbers only included the first episode “The Marshal” instead of two episodes like Ahsoka.

Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered with 958 million minutes back in May 2022. Like Ahsoka it included the first two episodes.

The premiere did edge out The Mandalorian Season 3 premiere in total minutes. That series debuted on the Nielsen charts with 823 million minutes.

Ahsoka also racked up more viewership than The Book of Boba Fett’s premiere. That show clocked in with 389 million minutes viewed. However, like The Mandalorian Season 2 it only debuted with a single episode.

It also fared better than Andor which clocked in at 624 million minutes viewed. However, Andor debuted with three episodes.

These Nielsen numbers follow-up reports from Samba TV that indicated the series had one of the least viewed Disney+ Star Wars shows since the premiere of The Mandalorian Season 1.

Samba TV noted the series only garnered views from 1.2 million US households in its first six days. They wrote on X, “The latest new Star Wars series, Ahsoka finally hit screens with 1.2M US households watching over its first six days. This is similar to viewership of Andor’s premiere season and slightly lower than The Mandalorian’s third season premiere over its first six days.”

Samba TV would report that these viewership numbers were indeed equal to Andor as they noted the series drew in 1.2 million US households as well. However, they also confirmed it was lower than The Mandalorian Season 3 which clocked in at 1.7 million US households.

Samba TV also reported that Ahsoka only brought in half the viewership of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The data analytics firm reported Obi-Wan Kenobi was viewed by 2.4 million US households in its first six days.

They had also previously reported that The Book of Boba Fett was viewed by 1.7 million US households in its first five days back in January 2022.

They also reported that The Mandalorian Season 2 was viewed by 2.08 million US households in its first four days.

After Samba TV released their viewership data for Ahsoka, Lucasfilm released their own numbers claiming “Part One of Ahsoka, “Master and Apprentice,” was the most-watched title on Disney+ this past week. The debut episode garnered 14 million views, making the series number one globally on the streaming platform.”

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy added, “Ahsoka has become a fan favorite with people of all ages and it’s wonderful to see her continue to resonate with viewers in her very own headlining series.”

The firm explained the discrepancy between Disney’s numbers and theirs, “Disney has released global, individual viewership numbers whereas we pushed out data showing US household viewership over a shorter time period. Hope that helps!”