Loki season 2 is celebrating a solid opening weekend. As per Disney, the premiere racked up an impressive 10.9 million viewers globally during its first three days, since its October 5 premiere in the US (October 6 in India, and everywhere else). With these numbers, it has become the second-most-watched premiere of 2023, sitting right behind The Mandalorian season 3, which dropped in March. A view is calculated by hours viewed divided by the total runtime of a film or show, which is the same format Netflix embraced in June. Given Loki season 2 episode 1 has a 45-minute runtime, the total viewed hours equate to 490.5 million minutes/ 8.17 million hours.
These are great numbers for Disney+, whose Marvel Cinematic Universe small-screen lineup has struggled to gain mass appeal. For instance, their newest Samuel L. Jackson-led Secret Invasion premiere only drew 994,000 viewers in the US, within the first five days. While Disney hasn’t released regional breakdowns for Loki season 2’s viewership, its popularity is clear as day, considering the streamer is confident enough to release numbers within just three days. You see, it was only recently that Disney started reporting viewership numbers, and even then, they were all based on a five-day time span. The Star Wars series Ahsoka opened to 14 million views, with two extra days, proving that Loki’s numbers are stronger.
The same five-day tally system is being applied to Disney+’s movies as well, with The Little Mermaid live-action remake pulling in 16 million views and Elemental reporting 26.4 million views. It’s not surprising to see Loki season 2 doing well, given the first season was Marvel’s most successful show, as confirmed by MCU President Kevin Feige in 2022. The new chapter sees Tom Hiddleston reprising his role as the titular God of Mischief and embarking on time-hopping adventures with an alternate version of TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), who doesn’t recognise him. Loki’s plans to reunite with his original team hits a hurdle when his body begins to distort and plops him into past and future timelines. Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) is a new addition to the cast, playing a TVA archivist OB.
Late last month, Disney+ confirmed in an email to its Canadian subscribers that it will begin restricting password sharing, starting November 1, a lot sooner than CEO Bob Iger’s original plans. The terms were quite unclear, but it suggested that users would soon be prohibited from sharing accounts with those outside their ‘household’ — which refers to devices associated with a primary personal address. The company will constantly monitor user activity and if it detects a user breaking the rules, it will limit access to streaming or entirely terminate the account. Netflix was the first to crack down on password-sharing and in the process, gained 6 million new subscribers in July.
New episodes of Loki season 2 drop every Friday on Disney+ Hotstar.
