For the first time ever, Amazon's Prime Video streaming service has actually provided a watching total for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which the firm claims was its biggest series debut ever.
The Rings of Power debuted on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT in the United States, and according to the business, 25 million people watched it on its first day of release worldwide. According to Prime Video, that is the best premiere it has ever had.
There isn't much information available regarding the context, as Prime Video representatives declined to clarify whether that represents the average global audience on day one, the number of people who watched at least a few minutes of the series, or something else. Furthermore, there is no mention of how much bigger The Rings of Power was than the previous Prime Video record holder (or what that show was).
According to Prime Video, the show debuted in almost 240 different countries. By dividing 25 million by that figure, around 104,000 viewers in each territory would result on average (though certainly significantly higher than that in more populous countries). A more positive angle would be to point out that Prime Video streaming is available to over 200 million Amazon customers globally. Accordingly, one in eight Prime members would have seen The Rings of Power on its opening day.
“It is somehow fitting that [J.R.R.] Tolkien’s stories — among the most popular of all time, and what many consider to be the true origin of the fantasy genre — have led us to this proud moment,” Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “I am so grateful to the Tolkien Estate — and to our showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, executive producer Lindsey Weber, cast and crew — for their tireless collaborative efforts and boundless creative energy. And it is the tens of millions of fans watching — clearly as passionate about Middle-earth as we are — who are our true measure of success.”
Over the coming weeks, further information regarding the performance of the musical will be provided. After the weekend, a few third-party analytics firms are likely to share their findings, which will allow for comparisons with other recent releases (such as HBO's House of the Dragon, the other significant fantasy series to premiere in the past few weeks). If the rating agency doesn't release a rush report earlier, the first Nielsen streaming data for The Rings of Power will be available in around four weeks.
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