According to Amazon, the first four episodes of the second season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” reached 40 million viewers worldwide in 11 days.
It’s difficult to put the statistic into context because Amazon hasn’t defined how it quantifies its viewership. For example, 40 million could simply be the number of people who watched any portion of the available episodes.
However, the studio has provided similar numbers for other titles, including the first season of Rings of Power, which it says will reach 25 million viewers on its first day in 2022. So, as Luminate’s measurement of Season 2’s opening weekend shows, the series’ latest broadcast appears to be significantly behind the first. (Announcement: diversity and Luminate have a common owner in PMC.)
Earlier this year, “Fallout” reached 65 million viewers in 16 days — more time than “The Rings of Power,” although it’s likely that “Fallout” had more than 40 million viewers in 11 days. “The Boys” Season 4 reached 55 million viewers in a much longer 39-day period, making comparisons with “The Rings of Power” difficult.
According to Amazon, the second season of “The Rings of Power” is now among the five most-watched television seasons of all time, behind “Fallout” and the second season of “Reacher.” The 2022 “Terminal List” has been demoted to number 6.
Amazon also touts that “tens of millions” of people have watched Season 1 of Rings of Power since early August and that the series has been Prime Video’s No. 1 title since Season 2 premiered on August 29. The studio emphasizes that an “impressive” portion of its viewers come from outside the U.S., but has not provided any data to back up that claim.
Below is Amazon Studios chef Jennifer Salke’s memo to staff regarding The Rings of Power’s viewership numbers.
Team,
It takes endless dedication and drive to deliver all the titles we’ve launched globally on Prime Video over the last 12 months. Our world-class teams have delivered record-breaking hit after record-breaking hit to our customers, including 4 of our top 5 TV titles of all time, as well as 2 of our top 5 movies. From the return of Reacher to the incredible launch of Fallout season 1, along with the remarkable growth we’ve seen in season 4 of The Boys and now The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, as well as our breakout films Road House and The Idea of You, we really see all your hard work paying off.
We’ve also seen our global customers fall in love with titles like Culpa Mia (My Fault) from Spain and Maxton Hall from Germany. In the last few weeks alone, Betty la Fea, La Historia Continúa (Betty la Fea, the story continues) from Colombia has quickly become our top-selling Latin American title with a global audience. We’re excited to see how our customers around the world receive these international stories and look forward to continuing to follow this growth.
On August 29, we launched the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Our key metrics show that the series is already on track for another successful season in its second weekend of release, with 40 million viewers already watching Season 2. We’ve also seen tens of millions of viewers watch Season 1 since the beginning of August. An impressive number of our The Rings of Power customers come from outside the United States, which is a testament to the show’s resonance with audiences worldwide and the remarkable growth of Prime Video customers worldwide.
I am grateful to each and every one of you for your boundless creative energy, passion and commitment. Together – along with our talented showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay, executive producers Lindsey Weber, Justin Doble, Callum Greene, Jason Cahill and Gennifer Hutchison, our phenomenal cast and crew, and the Tolkien Estate – we have brought a wonderful and timeless story to new audiences.
I can’t wait to see how this momentum continues to develop as new episodes continue to arrive. It is a great privilege to be able to bring world-class and inspired storytelling to people all over the world. Here’s to continued success and thank you again for all the great work. It takes a village!
Jen
More to follow …
