No Television Show Has Benefitted More From The Streaming Craze Than ‘Rick And Morty’

As daily life continues to change as we knew it, streaming has become the main source of entertainment during the coronavirus pandemic. At no other point in history has the television meant this much to people cooped up inside.

In fact, there’s data to back it up. In a recent comprehensive report on streaming behaviors, it was estimated that the world saw a 30.7% increase in streaming sessions during the month of March. Plenty of companies have capitalized on that trend, with film studios releasing movies early in digital form. During that time, the newly established Disney+ has actually overtaken Netflix in downloads domestically—which is the first time any competitor has ever done that.

But there’s one project in particular that has really capitalized on the streaming craze more than any other. In fact, this television show saw an insane, unprecedentedly dramatic increase in popularity well before the coronavirus pandemic thanks to streaming.

That show? Rick and Morty.

Just some quick background information: Adult Swim launched Adult Swim Video back in 2006. Back then, the nighttime programming block would offer a few episodes from a handful of its shows for online viewing. Over the years, the service has seen several different updates, including Adult Swim Gold, a paywall available for television subscribers to watch full episodes of Adult Swim programs. Today, Adult Swim streams marathons of its shows for free on adultswim.com—and its most viral show is Rick and Morty.

For those who don’t know, Rick and Morty is an animated show about a sociopathic scientist (Rick) that goes on adventures across the universe with his grandchildren (Summer and Morty). So far the show has only amassed 36 episodes over three-and-a-half seasons, yet has achieved a cult-like status for mixing juvenile humor with existential and philosophical pondering.

Rick and Morty aired part one of its fourth season on Nov. 10, 2019. Over the next five weeks, the show premiered five episodes. And all of those episodes could be seen on the Adult Swim website.

The streaming report—from mobile intelligence company Apptopia and customer engagement platform Braze—found that no other television show saw such a dramatic increase in daily active users than Rick and Morty did between Nov. 10, 2019 (when the first episode of season four aired) and Dec. 15 (when the fifth episode aired).

While more total people watched shows like Game of Thrones and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel during a similar time period, those shows didn’t experience the same level of increased interest as Rick and Morty did. During Game of Thrones’s eighth and final season—which ran from April 4, 2019 to May 19, 2019—the show experienced a 131% increase in daily active users. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, on the other hand, only saw a 19% increase when its third season dropped on Dec. 6, 2019.

But Rick and Morty? That show helped Adult Swim see an insane 504% increase in daily active users over the course of several weeks.

The report found that that show’s dramatic increase in daily active users led to a striking change in monthly active users of Adult Swim’s streaming service. Between September 2019 and December 2019, Adult Swim experienced a 155% increase in monthly active users. And over the next couple months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of monthly active users only slightly dwindled—meaning just five episodes of Rick and Morty had a lasting effect on Adult Swim’s virality.

That creates an interesting setup for the final five episodes of Rick and Morty’s fourth season, which are set to start airing on May 3, 2020. Adult Swim was able to capitalize on the streaming craze well before the coronavirus pandemic—so how substantial will the streaming service’s numbers be come this May? We’ll find out soon.