By Christofer Hamilton

On Oct. 30th, one of Netflix’s crown jewel franchises, “The Witcher,” returns for its fourth season, facing a challenge more daunting than any monster Geralt of Rivia has faced: a new leading man. Henry Cavill is passing the silver sword to Liam Hemsworth. It is a billion-dollar gamble with both fans and the industry watching to see how it will play out. Early data from Parrot Analytics suggests Netflix has reason to be concerned.

Our finding reveals a potential enthusiasm gap for the new season. Global demand for “The Witcher” in the lead-up to its fourth season is tracking behind where the show was ahead of its season two and three premieres. Four weeks out, the show had less than 30x the average series demand globally compared to 35x ahead of season 2 and 41.5x for season 3 at the same point in time. Tellingly, the spikes in demand around pre-release trailer drops have also been more subdued than in previous years.