Advanced Television

Walking Dead “most in-demand show in the world”

January 23, 2019

By Nik Roseveare

Parrot Analytics, the global TV analytics firm, has named The Walking Dead as the most in-demand TV series in the world for 2018. Despite reaching its 9th season – and already being renewed for a 10th – viewers’ appetite for the apocalyptic zombie drama is showing no signs of waning.

The announcement was made during the inaugural Global TV Demand Awards. The Walking Dead cast members Josh McDermitt and Pollyanna McIntosh (who play Eugene and Jadis respectively) and producer Denise Huth were on hand to accept the award.

“This is the first time a TV series has been bestowed an award on the basis of true demand for that show globally. It’s a reflection of how radically content consumption has been impacted by technology,” said Adriana Cisneros, CEO, CISNEROS and Board member of Parrot Analytics. “The TV business is now a $500 billion industry and outdated audience measurement systems simply don’t tell the complete story. Parrot Analytics provides the most accurate determination of what content people actually want in an ever-expanding multi-platform world. Global TV Demand Awards is a celebration of those content creators and distributors who are getting it right.”

“Parrot Analytics owns the world’s largest first-party content consumption dataset, enabling the company to award the most comprehensive global ‘people’s choice award’ ever given to a TV show,” added Wared Seger, CEO, Parrot Analytics. “We’re thrilled to be here at NATPE to announce that The Walking Dead is the most in-demand show in the world.”

Parrot Analytics also revealed that the most in-demand digital original series in the world for 2018 was Stranger Things (Netflix).

The Global TV Demand Award winners were determined using Parrot Analytics’ global audience demand measurement system, a system capable of measuring how much a TV series is wanted in 100+ markets around the world, across all platforms. The company captures over 1 billion new data points each day across the consumer activity spectrum, including video consumption (streaming and downloads), social media engagement (hashtags, liking, sharing) and research actions (reading about shows, writing about shows, etc.).

Game of Thrones returns for its 7th and final season in April of this year, after no new episodes were aired in 2018. The fantasy-drama is undoubtedly the frontrunner to be the most in-demand show of 2019.

Categories: Articles, Content, Research