HBO Max’s “Our Flag Means Death” becomes a word of mouth global hit

HBO Max’s “Our Flag Means Death” built exceptional audience demand in the United States and worldwide over the course of its just-completed first season, despite launching to little immediate fanfare, and with no pre-existing IP to help get it off the ground, Parrot Analytics revealed in its latest report.

US demand for the show more than tripled during the three weeks between its series debut and season one finale. The series has continued to grow its audience in the days since the last batch of season one episodes dropped on March 24, as an organic online fandom ensures it continues to own the internet.

“‘Our Flag Means Death’ arrives at a time when audiences are looking for a fun, heartwarming, and hopeful series that celebrates authentic queer relationships. Based entirely on original storytelling without any ties to pre-existing properties, ‘Our Flag Means Death’ has found truly impressive success, demonstrating the power authentic queer and sincere storytelling can have on audiences globally,”  said Julia Alexander, Senior Strategy Analyst at Parrot Analytics.

“Our Flag Means Death” is in the top 0.2% of titles across all platforms in the United States and worldwide. Globally, the show hit a peak ranking of 11th most in-demand show in the world, with a peak demand of 48.6x more than the average show worldwide. In the United States, it has also hit a peak ranking of 11th most in-demand show with US audiences, and peak demand of 39.7x more than the average show in the country.

As of last week, “Our Flag Means Death” was the number one “Breakout Series” (new show released in the last 100 days) with US audiences. “It is remarkable that ‘Our Flag Means Death’ is finding levels of demand that rival superhero series and legacy HBO titles alike, and is off to a better season one start than even ‘Ted Lasso’,”  Parrot’s report says.

● HBO/HBO MAX ORIGINALS

Since the March 24 season one finale, “Our Flag Means Death” is the number one recent HBO/HBO Max Original series with US audiences, supplanting the Zendaya-fronted “Euphoria,” which itself saw triple digit demand growth during its recent season two run.

● GLOBAL HEAT MAP

“Our Flag Means Death’s” top markets are mostly English speaking and/or Commonwealth countries, but it has also found large audiences in much of Western Europe. Since the season one finale, it has achieved “Exceptional” demand in the United States - ranking among the top 0.2% of shows with American audiences, and “Outstanding” demand in 34 different countries - meaning it ranks in the top 3% of shows in those nations.

● STEDE-Y GROWTH

Unlike most shows that end up hitting “Exceptional” levels of demand, “Our Flag Means Death” had almost no pre-release demand, likely due to the fact it was based on totally original IP. Nonetheless, the series debuted to solid demand on March 3, pulling in 11.9x more demand than the average show in the United States.

As more episodes were released on a unique schedule, with two to three episodes launched every Thursday from March 3-24, demand for the show steadily grew week over week. Demand for “Our Flag Means Death” jumped up to 36.7x on March 24 - meaning US demand for the show grew 208% between the March 3 series premiere and the March 24 season one finale.