Preseason Football Passed 'Spider-Man' in a Weekly Viewer Survey

Football drew 6.8% of mentions in the weekly survey, ahead of the Marvel film's 6.04%.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” gave up the top spot on a weekly audience-interest chart, at 6.04% of mentions to NFL Football's 6.8%. The Marvel film had led for five weeks. The figures come from ScreenShare, a data partnership between the research firm Screen Engine and the trade outlet TheWrap, which published the chart for the week of Aug. 22-28, 2026 on Sept. 2, 2026. Football's share was 4.8% a week earlier, a two-point jump as preseason games filled the calendar.

This isn't a ticket number. It's what people volunteered when asked what they most want to watch or play next. TheWrap reported the survey reached more than 1,000 respondents, aged 13 to 64.

The people who buy that answer are the marketers, distributors and advertisers deciding where the next month of ad money goes, which is why a Marvel movie still in theaters trailing preseason football matters to somebody's media plan.

The question is asked open-ended, with no list to pick from: “What is the one upcoming entertainment release (movie, show, video game, etc.) that you are most interested in watching or playing in the next month or so?” The outlet reported the survey fields Saturday through Friday each week. The sample is national and isn't broken out by market, so there's no Los Angeles line to read.

“Grand Theft Auto IV,” as the chart lists it, held third at 4.6%. The outlet tied its momentum to the Aug. 27, 2026 premiere of an Extended Look special from Rockstar and Netflix.

Marvel owns two rows here, and both went the wrong way. “Avengers: Doomsday,” which isn't in theaters yet, settled at 3.2% after 4.5% the prior week. That's a drop of 1.3 percentage points, once the studio's D23 promotional push faded.

The rest of the week's entries, with the reason the outlet gave for each move:

• “Reacher” — 2.6%, up, on Prime Video's weekly Season 4 rollout.
• “The Odyssey” — 2.3% for the Christopher Nolan film, its theatrical run underway.
• “Toy Story 5” — 1.8%, up after its Aug. 18, 2026 digital purchase and rental release.
• “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” — 1.7%, up after an Aug. 25, 2026 physical release and before its Disney+ debut.
• “Resident Evil” — 1.7%, building toward a Sept. 18, 2026 theatrical release.

Football took the crown on preseason mentions alone. The regular season kicks off Sept. 9, 2026.

Source: thewrap.com, retrieved September 2, 2026.