Disney Has a Huge Streaming Problem: Bluey Is Now More Popular than Star Wars and Marvel Combined

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Disney is facing a significant challenge: the cartoon Bluey is currently far more popular than both Star Wars and Marvel put together. The problem? Disney doesn’t actually own Bluey – they just license it from the BBC!

For a long time, most people believed that Marvel and Star Wars were the main reasons people subscribed to Disney+. However, recent data from Nielsen suggests otherwise. In the U.S., the show Bluey has become incredibly popular on Disney+, reaching 55.62 billion viewing minutes in 2024. This made it Disney+’s most-watched title, and even the most-watched show overall across all streaming platforms that Nielsen measures.

The impressive growth of Bluey’s viewership is particularly noteworthy. Nielsen data shows a steady increase from 21.1 billion viewing minutes in 2022 to 43.9 billion in 2023, and then to 55.62 billion in 2024. This isn’t just a temporary surge; it’s a consistent, accelerating trend that indicates people are watching the show repeatedly, turning it into a cornerstone of the streaming platform.

While it’s often claimed that Bluey is more popular than Marvel and Star Wars combined, that’s not entirely accurate when looking at all of Disney+. Data from 2022 showed that in 2021, The Mandalorian had 14.5 billion minutes viewed, followed by Loki (5.23 billion), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (4.15 billion), Hawkeye (3.46 billion), and The Book of Boba Fett (4.4 billion).

Those five titles add up to about 31.74 billion minutes of viewing time, and that’s not even counting other movies and shows from Marvel and Star Wars. This shows that these franchises were still incredibly popular and widely watched at that time.

However, things shifted after that. Nielsen data showed that Obi-Wan Kenobi had a strong start in 2022, reaching about 1 billion viewing minutes, which was a big boost for Disney+. In 2023, Ahsoka began with 829 million minutes viewed, and Loki season 2 totaled around 3.39 billion minutes over its six episodes. These are solid numbers for major franchise releases. Still, they don’t compare to the yearly viewership of Bluey, which, as an existing series, earned 21.1 billion minutes in 2022 and an impressive 43.9 billion in 2023.

The difference in viewing numbers is even clearer when looking at 2024 data. Nielsen reports that viewers watched Bluey for 55.62 billion minutes, more than double the 21.42 billion minutes watched for Bridgerton, the most popular original series on Netflix that year. This means Bluey had significantly higher watch time than any major streaming original. While popular franchises like Marvel and Star Wars still get a lot of attention, Bluey is actually capturing more viewing time, according to Nielsen’s data.

The data also reveals another key insight: Disney+ performs exceptionally well with family-friendly movies that people watch again and again. In recent years, titles like Encanto and Moana have been far more popular than Marvel or Star Wars films. For example, Encanto was viewed for 27.4 billion minutes in 2022, and Moana reached 11.6 billion minutes in 2023 and 13.03 billion in 2024. This suggests Disney+ thrives when it’s a go-to service for families to enjoy favorite movies repeatedly, rather than just a place for new releases from big franchises. Bluey aligns perfectly with this trend.

Looking at the data, it’s not accurate to say Bluey has always been more popular than Marvel and Star Wars on Disney+. However, recent data suggests Bluey has likely surpassed them in popularity, particularly in 2024. While Marvel and Star Wars still cause temporary surges in viewership, Bluey consistently attracts a large and steady audience. On a streaming service, that consistent viewership is often more valuable.

If we compare current numbers to last year and projections for 2026, things look really good for Bluey. However, Disney doesn’t own or control the show, which could actually be the reason for its success.

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2026-04-03 14:56