THE DEFENDERS Is Shockingly Marvel And Netflix's Least-Watched Series So Far
More bad news for Marvel's TV department today as it's been revealed that The Defenders - a series Netflix spent years building up to - is the online streaming service's least-watched Marvel show to date.
Earlier today, we learned that Inhumans has more than likely been cancelled before the first season has even aired and it's now been revealed that The Defenders is struggling on Netflix. That can't be a result the online streaming service is happy with, especially as the spinoff was supposed to be the crown jewel of these Marvel shows after the launch of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.
According to Variety, the eight-episode miniseries has received just 17% of the viewership Daredevil season two received in its first thirty days. It's also way behind the other Marvel shows on Netflix and The Defenders also had the largest week over week drop in terms of viewers too as it declined by 67%, 48%, and 41% over the first few weeks of streaming. That's obviously not a good result for anyone!
Somewhere along the line, viewers have clearly lost interest in seeing these characters come together but that could be blamed on the weak marketing campaign. After all, all we got were a series of lame posters featuring the heroes in their civvies and trailers which didn't really get anyone that excited.
Netflix is obviously going to judge The Defenders on more than just its first thirty days but this doesn't bode well for a second season and could hurt upcoming shows like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, not to mention The Punisher. We'll have to wait and see but it's clear changes need to be made at Marvel TV!
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A lifelong comic book fan who grew up on Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the '90s, Josh Wilding has been contributing to ComicBookMovie.com since 2009.
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