Daredevil Was Reportedly One of Netflix's Most Popular Shows, but It Was Canceled Anyway

Marvel's Daredevilwas canceled last week shorty after its third season debuted on Netflix despite being provably well-received and allegedly very popular, according a data analytics firm. Parrot Analytics, which purports to measure the popularity of Netflix shows (Netflix doesn't release viewer data), claims (reported via Entertainment Weekly) that Daredevil was the fourth most popular original series on the streaming service in the U.S. last week. It earned 30 million "demand impressions," Parrot's opaque popularity metric, more than a month after it premiered.

Daredevil ranked behind Narcos (the newest season of which premiered Nov. 16), Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Stranger Things. Daredevil was the top show on Parrot's streaming chart the week of its Season 3 premiere. So it's safe to say that Daredevil was not canceled because it was a flop. But we have a pretty good idea of what the real reason is, and have for awhile, and it has very little to do with Daredevil as a show: Daredevil was almost certainly canceled because Netflix is severing business ties with Disney, which produces Netflix's Marvel shows through ABC Studios. It doesn't matter how popular Daredevil is, because Disney doesn't want to supply content to a competitor (Disney is launching its own streaming service in 2019) and Netflix wants to own its programming outright. Netflix reportedly also wants to reduce episode counts for the infamously draggy Marvel shows, a request at which Marvel has balked. It's simply just not a partnership that makes sense for the companies anymore.

Netflix has also canceled Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and will probably cancel Jessica Jones and The Punisher after they complete their in-production seasons. The "Marvel's" possessive that used to be selling point is now a sticking point.

So if you're a Daredevil fan, sorry, but the bottom line comes first. Maybe there will be a new incarnation of Daredevil on Disney+ some day. For now, Marvel's Daredevil is still streaming on Netflix, at least.

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