“X-Men ’97” Finale Disney+ Viewership Finishes Strong
Last week, Marvel Studios released the finale of the first season of “X-Men ’97” on Disney+ around the world. The series is a revival of the 1990s animated series (which is also available to stream now on Disney+ and it revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
Deadline has revealed that the season finale of “X-Men 97” pulled in 3.5 million views over its first five days on Disney+ globally. Disney also revealed that this is the most-watched full-length animation series finale since Season 1 of Marvel’s “What If…?” and that viewership of the show has been growing over the last four episodes that were leading up to the finale.
Back in March, when the first two episodes of “X-Men ’97” were released, they both pulled in 4 million views globally over the first five days on Disney+. It is common for season premieres to have higher viewership numbers than a finale, as it’s only natural that some audiences won’t have to continue watching the show, but often, this is counterbalanced by people coming into the show a little later.
Disney also revealed that the launch of the new “X-Men ’97” series also gave a boost in viewership for the original series, which has had twice as many views, which is a nice added bonus.
The entire first season of “X-Men ’97” is available to stream on Disney+, along with the original animated series. Work is already underway on a second season of the series.
Roger’s Take: It’s worth pointing out that while this result for “X-Men ’97” is fantastic for an animated series, it is drastically less than any live-action series, and this is because while “X-Men ’97” is probably one of the best shows from Marvel in years, because it’s animated, a huge portion of Marvel fans will never watch it. The good news is that animated shows are generally much cheaper to produce, and viewership expectations are much lower. Disney probably could do with promoting this show a little more to mainstream audiences, in addition to airing it on linear channels and other locations now that the entire first season has been released, in order to get to a larger audience, but without doubt, this viewership is great for an animated series.
Have you seen the season finale of “X-Men ’97” yet? If so, let me know on social media!