Whether you were a long term, die-hard fan of the books or you were a convert to the popular cult classic video game series, it’s hard to find someone who isn’t absolutely obsessed with the Netflix original series starring Henry Calvill, The Witcher.
A recent Business Insider article reports that despite a declining U.S. audience (the series streamed in full back a few months back), it is still “the most in-demand TV series across all platforms globally, according to data firm Parrot Analytics.” Reporter Travis Clark writes that The Witcher, as well as the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian, “have been locked in a battle for audience demand since the former premiered in December (the latter debuted in November), and it’s a preview of what’s to come in the streaming wars. Both shows exhibit qualities that make a streaming series a hit… including sci-fi and fantasy themes inspired by popular source material.”
The “Streaming Wars” that Clark mentions is essentially the market competition for consumer attention across various streaming competitors such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and the recent kingmaker thanks to the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, Disney+. This war for your attention amongst the streaming services is less bloody, and more like a rising tide since consumers are more likely to ditch traditional satellite and cable services and instead subscribe to multiple, if not all, streaming providers. According to theverge.com, this seems to be the case at least for the immediate future, especially as the number of original and high quality shows continues to increase amongst the different platforms.
The Verge states that with the rise of Disney+, the Streaming Wars have ushered in “a whole new era of streaming, one where established industry leaders like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, and Amazon Prime Video are facing growing competition from major new players in the industry. Apple is building its own streaming service, Apple TV Plus. AT&T’s WarnerMedia streaming service is in beta. And that’s not counting the many smaller, niche-oriented streaming services, like The Criterion Channel, Crunchyroll, and Shudder.”
The Witcher will have competition from other shows launching on different platforms in the coming months. Steven Spielberg is directing a show on Apple TV, and the popular service HBO Max will also be premiering a series of new shows which include some of the rich Warner Bros. properties within the DC Comics universe, such as Stargirl, Doom Patrol, and the much anticipated Green Lantern series.
