"Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" Becomes Disney Channel's Biggest Disney+ Premiere Ever

Based on numbers from both Nielsen and the Walt Disney Company, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place has premiered with some of Disney+’s and Disney Channel’s highest viewership numbers.

What’s Happening:

Deadline exclusively reports that Wizards Beyond Waverly Place garnered 3.2 million views globally in the first 12 days of release.
The impressive numbers set the record for most watched Disney Channel series premiere on Disney+ ever, according to the Walt Disney Company.
Disney defines views as total streamtime divided by runtime.
Ayo Davis, President of Disney Branded Television shared “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place has reintroduced the magic of the Russo family to a new generation, resonating with audiences across platforms. Its standout debut reflects the enduring appeal and relevance of this beloved franchise – and the creativity and talent driving this new chapter.”
According to data from Nielsen, the series did, unsurprisingly, well among younger audiences in the U.S.
It was the most streamed series among Kids 6-11, Teens, and Adults 18-24 during the first four days of availability.
Currently, Disney hasn’t released its own streaming report for the debut week of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, which will give more information on how the series is doing across streaming.
While the series aired its first episode a day earlier on Disney Channel, the first 8 episodes of the series aired simultaneously on Disney+. Disney Channel will continue to air “new” episodes weekly. It is expected that the majority of viewership will be garnered from streaming.
In a strategy they’ve used for Disney Jr. shows, Disney placed the entire first episode of the series on YouTube in hopes of reaching younger fans who do not have access to Disney+. Generating more than 1.1 million views to-date, this is Disney Channel’s best performing new full episode on YouTube since 2017.
As of November 11th, the series has received 125 million total impressions and 13 million engagements across the show’s social media handles and Disney Channel and Disney+’s Instagram, TikTok and Facebook pages.
In anticipation of the spinoff series, Disney Channel released the finale of Wizards of Waverly Place on TikTok at the end of October, which saw nearly 11 million views.
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place follows Justin Russo and his family, Giada, Roman, and Milo who live a normal, magic-free life. Alex, his mischievous younger sister, shows up with a young wizard in training named Billie. Looking to provide the familiarly rebellious teenager, Justin dusts off his skills to help provide Billie the training she needs to become a wizard while juggling his everyday responsibilities.
The series stars David Henrie reprising his role as Justin Russo.
Writers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas executive produce alongside Gary Marsh, Jones Agin, Selena Gomez, and Henrie. Andy Fickman directed and executive produced the pilot and directed multiple episodes throughout the series.
Wizards of Waverly Place was created by Todd Greenwald.

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