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It wasn’t a fight, but it was. It wasn’t that there was no reason to have a loser and a winner, the triumph (and failure) of either was possible. But the fact that the first seasons of House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power aired concurrently put it on one record. Now that the journey back to Middle-earth and Westeros is over and both series have wrapped their first seasons, which one has won in terms of enthusiasm?
Although both were undeniable achievements for their respective platforms, and both HBO and Amazon Prime Video wanted to reflect that in official statements, the notes are usually closer to marketing than actual information. On Tuesday 25th, after the conclusion of the first season of The House of the Dragon, HBO Max assured in a press release that it is already the most watched title of HBO’s video-on-demand services in Spain, ahead of the final season of Game of Throne. On the one hand, it’s logical considering that the platform will most likely have more subscribers today than it did back then. On the other hand, how many viewers is that? More vague data than this note provided: “The House of the Dragon premiered with the most viewers of any new original series in HBO history and the best series start on HBO Max in the US, Latin America and Europe.” It contained a number: The 10 episodes averaged 29 million viewers in the United States, including cable channel and platform airing. These are numbers close to the 33 million that the penultimate season of Game of Thrones averaged, according to specialist media Vulture. HBO has not reported any views worldwide.
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With the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, Prime Video also sent an official statement. Then, after the first two episodes were released, the platform assured that the series gathered more than 25 million viewers around the world on the first day of broadcast, “breaking all previous records and becoming the most important premiere in the history of Prime Video had become. ” Those in charge of the platform informed Variety days before the end of the season that it was on its way to 100 million users, to which must be added those who were waiting for its end to watch it, which will add a good number of Visits to both series.
Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans and Emma D’Arcy in the eighth episode of “House of the Dragon”.
But beyond the data provided by the platforms, there are also the measurements of the Nielsen chartered accountant in the United States, which counts the number of minutes watched on TV on some platforms. According to their streaming program charts, the Rings added 977 million minutes over the week of September 19-25, while the Dragons added 1,008 million minutes over the same period. The final chapters of the HBO series didn’t fall off that number, according to Vulture. It should be noted that this measurement does not include plays on devices other than TV, nor does it include views on linear TV, which is a significant figure for The House of the Dragon, which also airs on HBO in the US (about a third its audience figures) and would thus be the audience winner in its country of origin.
Also interesting is the fact measured by the company Parrot Analytics, which focuses on the demand for a program on the Internet, taking into account factors such as noise on social networks or legal and illegal downloads. A report by this company collected by the Los Angeles Times shows that The Lord of the Rings had an average 30.5 times higher demand than the American series in its first 30 days. For its part, the House of Dragons multiplied that number by 55 over the same period. At certain peak times, the HBO series generated more than double Prime Video’s demand. Again, this data does not give an overall picture of the situation, it is more an indicator of interest in the series, of the noise created around it, than of actual viewing. But it serves to answer the question of who was more relevant during its airing.
Maxim Baldry in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
More curious facts about the implications of these two fictions. A mid-October Nielsen report collected by Business Insider showed that 68% of House of the Dragon’s audience is concentrated in the 18-49 age group, while The Lord of the Rings is best there worked with 71% of audiences aged 35+ (US data, not worldwide) to the most mature audience. It’s funny how the Prime Video series has had serious trouble reaching a younger audience. Contrary to what is usual on other platforms, the two series have a predominantly male audience. And this report also indicates that 33% of House of the Dragon viewers have also seen The Lord of the Rings and 34% of The Lord of the Rings fans have also seen House of the Dragon.
In short, it’s clear that both have been a hit and that Rings and Dragons have been around for a while. Of course we have to wait for now. While The Lord of the Rings has already started filming its second season, HBO officials are asking you to be patient for the next episode of The House of the Dragon, which will be released in 2024 at the earliest.
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