“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” generated plenty of streaming eyeballs the week of September 12-18, with the Prime Video series obtaining 988 million minutes of viewing time in the U.S., per Nielsen’s latest rankings.
The “Lord of the Rings” prequel, which premiered on September 1, aired its fourth episode on September 16. It took second place on Nielsen’s top 10 list of most streamed original content, only losing out to Netflix’s “Cobra Kai,” which saw 1.9 billion minutes streamed in the wake of its fifth season premiere.
“The Rings of Power” drew 25 million global viewers on its opening day, which Amazon marked as Prime Video’s largest premiere in history. The eight-episode season concluded this week and was recently ranked by VPN Overview as “the most expensive TV production ever” – each episode costing $60 million.
The rest of the Nielsen’s originals rankings consisted of mainly Netflix titles. Netflix’s “The Crown” obtained third place with 796 million minutes streamed in the week after Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Other notable Netflix series on the list include “Sins of Our Mother” with 661 million minutes, “Devil in Ohio” at 552 million minutes and “Stranger Things,” which came in at number nine with 479 million minutes.
Aside from “The Rings of Power,” two more non-Netflix entries made the cut. Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” had a favorable showing at fifth place, with 581 million minutes streamed. And Disney+’s “She Hulk: Attorney at Law” snuck in at number 10 with 403 million minutes.
As for acquired series, HBO Max’s “House of the Dragon” led the pack with 960 million minutes of viewing. The “Game of Thrones” prequel had a record-breaking series debut on August 21 with 10 million U.S. viewers.
Less than a week after the first episode’s release, HBO Max renewed the show for a second season.
People are still watching the original “Game of Thrones,” Nielsen noted, placing the series at number four (700 million minutes) on the acquired series list.
Netflix series “In the Dark” was the runner-up in acquired rankings, amassing 825 million minutes streamed. While Netflix’s “Cocomelon” came in third place with 785 million minutes.
For the movies category, Disney+ snagged first and second place with “Thor: Love and Thunder” (621 million minutes) and the new live-action adaptation of Pinocchio (510 million minutes).
Whereas “End of the Road” was Netflix’s top-performing movie, getting third place with 411 million minutes. HBO Max had a singular showing in the top 10, its biopic “Elvis” at number nine with 246 million minutes viewed.