‘WandaVision’ is crushing the streaming competition right now

Image: Marvel Studios

Back in the fall of 2019, with the launch of Disney+ imminent, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings praised his forthcoming rival as the product of “an amazing company” and predicted that the new streamer would likely offer the toughest competition for his own. “They’re a wonderful competitor, because they really understand creativity,” Hastings said during The New York Times’ DealBook conference in November of 2019, adding that he not only planned to subscribe to Disney’s new streamer but that “Disney’s the one that we really have the most to learn from, in terms of entertainment.”

That assessment certainly proved to be accurate, and then some. Earlier this month, even though the streamer is only a little more than a year old, Disney said that Disney+ has racked up more than 94.9 million subscribers so far. Moreover, the service occupies the top spot this week on our list of the most-watched TV shows at the moment — a ranking that comes from the streaming search engine service Reelgood.

The team at Reelgood says that the Disney+ series its users were watching during the week of February 24 through March 2, more than anything else from rival streamers like Netflix, Apple TV+ and others, is WandaVision.

The season finale of the series — over the course of which viewers were treated to the Marvel characters of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch and Vision living idyllic suburban lives, before suspecting things aren’t what they seem — just aired on Disney+ over the weekend. Similar to what The Mandalorian did for Disney+, the new show sparked tons of chatter and buzz across the Web and social media, and it also enjoys strong ratings (currently, WandaVision has a 91% average Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes).

WandaVision director Matt Shakman told Collider in recent days that there’s no plans at this time for a Season 2, adding that: “We were very focused on telling this story over nine episodes and hopefully coming to a conclusion that feels satisfying and also surprising.”

Watched it 3 times.
Loved it ALL.
Show was everything I wanted it to be.
For the folks who say I cry over movies/TV because I’m too stoned?
I haven’t smoked weed in a week.
Stop blaming the herb.
I’m just a soft boy.
Anyway…
Goodbye, @wandavision.
We’ll say hello again. pic.twitter.com/fMogBReaRG

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) March 5, 2021

The success of the show and others like it help explain why, during Disney’s earnings report for the December quarter, the company also teased a huge achievement that it expects to record over the next three years or so — amassing a subscriber base as big as Netflix’s, or bigger. Disney+ is definitely headed down that road already, with a 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe line-up already on the way that includes The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiering on Disney+ on March 19th and Loki debuting on Disney+ on June 11th, to name just a few.

Below, meanwhile, you’ll find the full list of the top streaming series for the week, per Reelgood’s latest analysis of its user data. The streamer shares this look at what’s hot right now in the streaming world on both a weekly and monthly basis with BGR, and, without further ado, the latest hot titles include:

Forever ❤️ All episodes of Marvel Studios' #WandaVision are now streaming on @disneyplus. pic.twitter.com/OsmlVxz3bD

— WandaVision (@wandavision) March 7, 2021

This article talks about:

Andy Meek Trending News Editor

Andy Meek is a reporter based in Memphis who has covered media, entertainment, and culture for over 20 years. His work has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Forbes, and The Financial Times, and he’s written for BGR since 2015. Andy's coverage includes technology and entertainment, and he has a particular interest in all things streaming.

Over the years, he’s interviewed legendary figures in entertainment and tech that range from Stan Lee to John McAfee, Peter Thiel, and Reed Hastings.