Netflix's 'The Punisher' viewership is down 40%, but there's a sliver of hope for fans of the Marvel show

Netflix

"The Punisher"

• Data from analytics firm Jumpshot, provided to Business Insider, shows that viewership for Netflix's "The Punisher" dropped by 40% from its first to second season weekend premieres.
• That's still not as severe as the drop for Netflix's canceled Marvel shows, "Luke Cage," "Iron Fist," and "Daredevil."
• Each of those shows dropped by over 60% in first weekend viewership for their most recent seasons, according to Jumpshot.

When Netflix abruptly canceled three of its Marvel TV shows last year - "Luke Cage," "Iron Fist," and "Daredevil" - it left the fate of its remaining Marvel titles in question.

"The Punisher" and "Jessica Jones" have yet to be canceled by the streaming giant, and the second season of "The Punisher," which wrapped filming last year prior to the cancellations, debuted on Friday.

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Netflix rarely releases viewership numbers. When it does, it's vague and for hit movies and TV shows such as "Bird Box," which Netflix said was viewed by 45 million accounts in the first week. We likely won't officially know if "The Punisher" is a success until an announcement is made.

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But data provided to Business Insider from analytics company Jumpshot shows that "The Punisher" is clinging to its audience. Jumpshot tracks five billion actions a day across 100 million devices to deliver insights into online consumer behavior.

The data shows that first-weekend viewership for "The Punisher" dropped 40% from its first season in 2017 to its second season. The silver lining for "The Punisher," though, is that it's not as dramatic of a drop as the canceled shows.

The chart below compares every season for all of Netflix's Marvel shows:

Jumpshot

Viewership for "Luke Cage" and "Iron Fist" in their first weekends dropped 63% and 69% from their first to second seasons, respectively. "Daredevil" dropped 61% from its second to third season, according to Jumpshot. That could explain why Netflix gave the shows the boot.

Below is the same chart, but zoomed in on the two "Punisher" seasons:

Jumpshot

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Netflix's Marvel shows could also be casualties of a shift in strategy due to the impending launch of Disney's own streaming service, Disney+.

But there has clearly been a flagging interest in Netflix's Marvel show.

Social-media data from Crimson Hexagon provided to Business Insider in October - soon after "Luke Cage" and "Iron Fist" were canceled - showed that online conversation around the shows had dropped significantly over time, and that "Daredevil" was in trouble, too. "Daredevil" was then canceled in November.

Marvel Television executive vice president Jeph Loeb told Indiewire in an interview published on Wednesday that the fate of "The Punisher" is out of Marvel's hands.

"It's an unfortunate reality to any relationship between a network and a studio in that the network always has the right at any time to cancel a show," Loeb said. "And we've been very lucky that our shows have lived on, and that we've had the fun, but everyone can name a show that they love that has gotten canceled. But we do, and I think we've made it very clear, that this is not our call. This is Netflix's call."