One unfortunate side effect of streaming becoming the primary method by which Americans consume entertainment is that there isn’t really any objective way to measure which shows and movies have the largest audience and popularity, in the way box office figures once did for theatrical releases.

Nielsen now releases weekly figures of the most popular streaming shows, but not every service participates. Other firms also use different methodologies to measure which content is the most popular. 

One of those is Parrot Analytics, which measures TV shows by the amount of demand their model sees each show as having. And according to numbers the firm released last week, the most in-demand TV show of 2020 was one that went off the air in 2019. 

According to Parrot’s 3rd Annual Global TV Demand Awards, HBO’s Game of Thrones was the Most In-Demand TV Show in the World. The Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance, meanwhile, was picked as “the most in-demand global series debut” of the year. Game of Thrones was also the top drama series, while The Last Dance was additionally named the most in-demand documentary series.

Parrot also named winners in several different genre categories. Rick and Morty was the world’s most in-demand adult-animated series, while My Hero Academia was the most in-demand anime series. Spongebob Squarepants was the top children’s series, while Brooklyn Nine-Nine was the top comedy series. 

Among other winners were Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (the top variety series), MasterChef Australia (the most in-demand reality series), and Crash Landing on You (the most in-demand Korean drama. 

The winners were determined according to “global TV demand data for the period January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020.”

Parrot will be hosting a “virtual festival” the first week of February, called the Global TV Demand Awards: Virtual Festival, and will host such speakers as HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys, The Last Dance director Jason Hehir, and Marty Benson, the showrunner of MasterChef Australia.

“We’re honored to share the conversations we’ve had with the visionaries behind the world’s most popular TV shows of 2020 to offer a unique perspective to executives seeking insights into what makes a show successful right now. The Global TV Demand Awards: Virtual Festival is unique in that all winners have been selected based on global demand data insights, without any judges involved” Rebekah Zabarsky, Executive Producer of the awards and Marketing Director at Parrot Analytics, said the festival announcement. 

“Anyone interested in learning how to create, produce, distribute, market, and acquire exceptional content should tune in and learn from the best.”

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.