The first episode of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” brought in 13.3 million viewers in its first six days on Disney+ and Hulu.
This number puts the series among the top five most-watched season premieres in all of 2023 on both streaming services. While the exact titles that make up the top five lists are unknown, both platforms released major titles this year. Among Disney+ debuts were “The Mandalorian” Season 3, “Loki” Season 2, “Ahsoka” and “Secret Invasion.” Hulu releases in 2023 included “The Bear” Season 2, “Only Murders in the Building” Season 3, “The Kardashians” Seasons 3 and 4, “American Horror Stories” Season 3, the “Futurama” reboot and more.
13.3 million viewers in six days marks an impressive showing for “Percy Jackson.” For comparison, previously released premiere statistics from Disney+ include “Ahsoka,” which reached a slightly higher 14 million viewers in a slightly shorter five days of viewing, and “Loki” Season 2, which reached 10.9 million premiere viewers in just three days — and likely surpassed “Percy Jackson’s” 13.3 million by the six-day mark. (Disney, like Netflix, defines a “view” as total time watched divided by runtime.)
But the fact that these data points are comparable at all is a win for “Percy Jackson,” which is based on a book series aimed at middle graders, while “Ahsoka” and “Loki” are geared towards naturally larger adult audiences. Additionally, “Percy Jackson” is the first project in what Disney hopes to launch into a major screen franchise, whereas “Ahsoka” and “Loki” had the benefit of following countless entries in the “Star Wars” and Marvel universes, respectively.
For another reference, the Disney+ premiere of fellow kids’ book adaptation “Goosebumps” earlier this year reached 4.2 million viewers in three days. While the differing time periods once again prevent perfect comparison, it seems likely that “Percy Jackson” has a larger audience.
Only the first episode of “Percy Jackson” counted towards the viewership total, though two episodes were released at once on Dec. 19. (Totals for “Ahsoka” and “Loki” Season 2 also only included one episode.) Viewership across both Disney+ and Hulu counted towards this total, though only the first episode is available on Hulu; Episode 2 streams exclusively on Disney+, as will the rest of the season.
Along with being a top five premiere for Disney+ and Hulu, “Percy Jackson” achieved the most-watched premiere of all time for Disney Branded Television when compared to six days of viewership for the studio unit’s other titles, such as “Goosebumps,” which launched earlier this year; “Superkitties,” the No. 1 most-watched new series in 2023 among ages 2-5; and “Bluey,” the No. 1 most-watched 2023 series among ages 2-11. Disney Branded Television is also behind “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” “The Santa Clauses” and more.
Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Riordan, his wife Rebecca Riordan, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Monica Owusu-Breen, Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson and the Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg.
