SBS has enjoyed a week at the top with The Handmaid’s Tale topping both the Australian and New Zealand digital original charts. Coming in 28.6 and 22.9 points above the market average, respectively, season five of the series is in full swing as the tension grows between June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) in the wake of Commander Waterford’s (Joseph Fiennes) murder. The Handmaid’s Tale also placed third on Australia and New Zealand’s overall TV shows.
Stranger Things remains circulating near the top, coming second in Australia with 27.1 points above average and fourth in New Zealand with 16.2 points.
In Australia’s digital originals, Cobra Kai has fallen from first to third with a difference of 21.8 points from the market average. The series, which just released its fifth season on Netflix, is a spin-off sequel series to the original 1984 movie The Karate Kid. Right on the heels of the new season release, Sony Columbia Pictures has announced a new theatrical Karate Kid film to be released in 2024.
Coming second in the New Zealand digital originals is the latest instalment in the Lord Of The Rings franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . Developed by showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay for the streaming service Prime Video, the series is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In New Zealand, the new series came in 17.1 points above average and 17.8 points in Australia.
Over on Australia’s overall TV shows, Game Of Thrones topped the chart with 34.8 times more in demand than its competitors. House Of The Dragon followed closely behind with 32.3 points above average.
New Zealand’s overall shows had a similar result, with House Of The Dragon coming first (30 points), followed by Game of Thrones (24.5 points). Better Call Saul clocked fourth, with a difference of 17.9.
In its fifth week on screens, Disney + original, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, has moved up to fourth in the Australian digital originals. Based on the Marvel Comics, the series follows Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), a lawyer specialising in cases involving superhumans, who also becomes the green superhero, She-Hulk. The series came in 20 points above average in Australia and 17 points in New Zealand.
