Amazon has likely experienced the worst TV disaster of all time.
The multi-billion-dollar creation of Amazon's “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was hated by Tolkien enthusiasts and was often dismissed by both viewers and reviewers. Naturally, it didn't stop some viewers from tuning in each week to watch; however, according to the latest statistics, the amount of viewers who logged on to watch it dropped dramatically each time a new episode was released.
According to Variety, Amazon was cagey regarding the ratings of their expensive effort to launch its very own Game of Thrones, making their silence regarding the numbers their show was earning the most blaring portion in the series. The inability to provide information on the popularity of the show is more evident when it continually publishes ratings data on their “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts.
The latest data have been released, but It seems that even though initially the interest was high, the show fell to 20% of its audience following the second episode, according to Variety. The show would drop 1 percent of its audience over the following three weeks.
However, a pattern has been observed from”Rings'” week-to-week viewership that might explain the lack of action by Amazon in the last timeframe, the series streams' minutes per week, though only by around 1 percent over the prior three weeks in the study. (Nielsen's streaming ratings are delayed by around one month following the day that is in question.)
However, this suggests that “Rings'” audience shrank as the season progressed and there was a lack of catch-up viewing by new viewers occurring in mid-season. Although viewing times increased, it was not enough to hit the highs of the show's first days of its release. The more dramatic (around 20 percent) decline from the first two weeks also indicates that some viewers who tried the series in the beginning did not continue to watch it, which isn't a good indicator of its potential for growth.
The Nielsen ratings also reveal a fascinating fact in the event that “Rings of Power” is in comparison to other fantasy shows such as HBO Max's “House of the Dragon.” As you can see from the graph it is clear that the Game of Thrones prequel began with less enthusiasm, but soon gained a following which matched, and even beat “Rings of Power” at some point.
This is even more remarkable when you consider that fewer people use HBO Max (48.6 million) than Amazon Prime (153 million) in the United States alone. This means that more people saw “Rings of Power” advertised to them daily as “House of the Dragon” did at the time of first signing up with the online streaming platform.
Additionally, Amazon plastered “Rings of Power” advertisements all over the place. Amazon trucks, and even the packages sent by Amazon included ads for the event printed in the packages. It was impossible to even open Photoshop without seeing the face of Galadriel.
Based on CBR.com, Parrot Analytics showed that “Rings of Power” did witness a growth of 55 percent in the number of viewers watching its season finale. And although that could be an encouraging sign for its upcoming Season 2 due out in two years, it could be a negative sign. If the show was a disappointment to viewers during its run, then it probably wasn't a huge hit at the end of the day either.
It would result in the same impact on viewers as other brands have adopted the re-interpretation of the original material. In the end, viewers will give up and stop watching. Brands like Star Wars, The Witcher along with Marvel properties have been involved in such a plethora of political zeal and rationalization that the public has been consistently turning their backs on newer products.
Rumors have been circulating that Amazon might take over the show's current showrunners because of the disaster that “Rings of Power” has been. If it is true, this is Amazon admitting to having failed horribly and not even stating it. It will be interesting to see what happens, however there is one thing that is certain regardless of what you think: this event was a total disaster.
