launched a few weeks ago.

But despite both launching with roughly the same amount

of new, original TV shows, the only thing

people can talk about is Baby Yoda.

(baby cooing)

- This is what was causing all the fuss?

- [Julia] "The Mandalorian" is easily the most

talked about show right now.

Every week, Disney releases a short and sweet

jolt of Star Wars action directly to our TV sets.

We can wake up early every Friday morning

and catch up with the Mandalorian

and his adorable sidekick, Baby Yoda.

- [Mandalorian] Bone broth for the little one.

- Twitter is full of gifs, memes are running rampant

and Disney Plus stays in the weekly conversation

about being the next thing you must absolutely watch.

Apple TV Plus doesn't have this for any of its' shows.

"The Morning Show" fizzled out,

no one is talking about "See"

and Dickinson's fandom is contained to a corner of Tumblr.

Even Disney's other series aren't garnering

too much attention.

Like "The World According to Jeff Goldblum"

and "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series".

Yes, that is the actual title.

"The Mandalorian" is an absolute win for Disney.

As the streaming service catapults to the front

of people's must have subscriptions.

It's also prime example of Disney using Disney Plus

to recreate event television in the streaming age.

And sell you as many t-shirts as possible along the way.

(upbeat techno music)

Of the 10 million people who signed up

for Disney Plus on launch day,

at least 2.1 million watched "The Mandalorian".

Research shows it's also the most in demand show

across the U.S. on any platform.

There are entire podcasts dedicated to breaking down

every episode and recapping each moment

is a full time job for entertainment writers again.

It's what critics call event television.

A show that makes everything and everyone

suddenly stop in order to watch.

Whether that's "Game of Thrones" on Sunday nights

or calling in sick the day a new season

of "Stranger Things" drops on Netflix.

The big difference between "Game of Thrones"

and "Stranger Things" was how people watched it.

And it gave us a look at how streaming

could differ from cable.

"Game of Thrones" was a weekly event.

This most recent season was a six-week affair

that kept people talking about the show

for nearly two months straight.

"Stranger Things" happens all at once.

Excitement tends to die down after two or three weeks.

Basically, after people have binged it.

Meanwhile, "Game of Thrones" was pulling in viewers weekly

and kept those viewers.

Boasting record numbers for it's finale.

For a long time, "Stranger Things" existed as an example

of what event television could look like

in the streaming age.

"The Mandalorian" is a shake-up.

Disney, echoing TV's more traditional formula

is releasing its' Disney Plus episodes weekly.

The company could release all of its' episodes at once

but in doing so, risks having "The Mandalorian"

be another show that people binge

and forget about a week later.

Instead, and this is the important bit,

Disney is using the show as a launch pad

for other holiday sales.

Think of Disney Plus as an add-on for the company.

Former Amazon Studios analyst, Matthew Ball

noted that if companies actually want to make money,

subscription streaming shouldn't even be your real business.

Look at "The Mandalorian".

The show offers endless merchandising opportunities.

Disney, a company whose films help propel

theme park attractions and cruise lines,

knows this game better than most studios.

(orchestra playing)

Right now, "The Mandalorian" is tantalizing enough

that it keeps people interested

and more importantly, keeps them subscribed.

Using Baby Yoda as incentive isn't something

Disney's gonna be able to do,

every single month going forward though.

So, what happens after "The Mandalorian" ends

and Baby Yoda disappears from the weekly discourse?

Kevin Mayer, head of Disney's Direct-to-Consumer division

actually spoke about this exact issue

at a recent conference.

- There's a lead time to create really high quality,

original programming.

So we have them coming on in a cadence

that we think is the right cadence.

We do have more originals that are coming out,

at D23 we announced three or four Marvel series

that are going to start coming out in several months.

- Beginning in 2020, Disney will use its Marvel shows

to play into its' big franchise films.

And then let's look at 2021.

Marvel has four movies that will be released in theaters.

Between those releases, there are also several Marvel shows

that will air weekly on Disney Plus.

Some of these shows will also correspond to the events

happening in some of these movies

being released in theaters.

For example, "Wanda Vision", a show that centers

on Scarlet Witch and Vision from the Avengers series

is actually gonna play into Doctor Strange 2,

when those are released in 2021.

Eventually, we're just gonna exist in a non-stop

weekly cycle of Disney marketing.

What it means for us, the people who are subscribed

to Disney Plus or are thinking about it,

is that Disney is gonna want its' streaming service

to be at the center of weekly conversation.

It might not be Baby Yoda in a few months

but there will be something that keeps us talking

about Disney Plus week after week

and probably keeps us subscribed.

Disney isn't the only company trying to keep you subscribed

to their streaming service week after week.

Companies like Apple are doing it too.

To see how they're doing it, watch the first episode

of The Verge, a Streaming Wars series.