Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion series is the latest dud for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the series’ premiere viewership failed to break into the top 10 streaming programs for its release week.
Nielsen recently released its viewership data for the week of June 19-25, 2023 and Secret Invasion is nowhere to be seen in the top 10 overall chart.
The series was defeated by Suits, Black Mirror, S.W.A.T., Extraction 2, The Bear, Grey’s Anatomy, Bluey, NCIS, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Manifest.
RELATED: Samuel L. Jackson-Led ‘Secret Invasion’ Posts Second Worst Opening Of Any Marvel Disney Plus Series
The series did show up on Nielsen’s Top 10 Original chart in fifth place where it was revealed it raked in 461 million minutes viewed. As noted above it was best by Black Mirror, The Bear, Manifest, and The Surrogacy.
It did beat out Ted Lasso, Never Have I Ever, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, FUBAR, and Catching Killers.
In overall minutes Secret Invasion did best She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s premiere. That series did not even show up on Nielsen’s Originals chart meaning it’s viewership was below 395 million minutes, which was what Instant Dream Home brought in at 10th place.
However, because Nielsen’s data is provided in minutes watched, one has to note how long each of the premiere episodes were. Secret Invasion’s premiere episode clocks in at 55 minutes while She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s first episode was only 38 minutes in length. It’s also possible She-Hulk might have actually brought in more viewers. If you estimate the premiere viewership was only 380 million and you divide that by the episode length that comes to 10 million viewers. Doing the same calculation with Secret Invasion you only get 8.3 million.
In order for Secret Invasion to have best She-Hulk, She-Hulk minutes watched for its premiere needs to be at 315 million or below.
Secret Invasion did best Ms. Marvel, which charted on Nielsen’s Top 10 Original Chart when it debuted back in June 2022. However, while it did chart, it only debuted with 249 million minutes viewed. Ms. Marvel’s first episode had a 50 minute run time.
It also best Moon Knight, which debuted at the end of March 2022. The series hit 6th on the Nielsen chart with 418 million minutes viewed. The first episode was 48 minutes long. While it might have achieved greater overall minutes viewed, it appears Moon Knight might have actually garnered more viewers as dividing the total minutes by the episode length you get 8.7 million viewers while Secret Invasion only brings in 8.3 million. Obviously, this is assuming that each viewer watched the entire episode.
The series failed to best Hawkeye, which premiered with 853 million minutes. However, it had a two episode premiere with both episodes combined clocking in at 103 minutes in length. Using the same formula as above that comes to 8.28 million viewers. Again, this is assuming that each person watched the entirety of both episodes. Given the two-episode premiere it could have had more people tune in for the first episode and forgo the second episode.
Loki also best Secret Invasion with 731 million minutes viewed when it premiered in June 2021. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also defeated it with 495 million minutes viewed in March 2021. Both of those series only had single episode premieres.
However, it did bring in more minutes than WandaVision, which posted 434 million minutes viewed when it premiered in January 2021. WandaVision had a two-episode premiere with both episodes combined totaling 101 minutes. That means viewership would be around 4.29 million.
These numbers could bode ill for the upcoming The Marvels film given Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is the main character of the series and he appears to play a significant supporting role in the upcoming The Marvels film.
On top of Secret Invasion performing poorly, one of The Marvels’ main characters, Ms. Marvel is also the worst performing Marvel Studios series on Disney+.
What do you make of these new Nielsen numbers for Secret Invasion and what do you think it means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?