Fall 2022 is shaping up to be an exceptional time for fantasy television fans, with both J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin’s works receiving big-budget TV adaptations. The Rings of Power on Prime Video follows the rise of evil in Middle-earth during the Second Age. It is set thousands of years before the events of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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House of the Dragon, on the other hand depicts the start of the Targaryen civil war. And it is set about 200 years before Game of Thrones. The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon Despite are completely different series based on the plot. But the fact that both debuted around the same time has created a sense of competition among many viewers.
The two shows have nearly similar Rotten Tomatoes reviewer scores. But The Rings of Power has proven far more polarizing among audiences. Previous statistics suggested that House of the Dragon outnumbered Rings of Power in terms of the number of U.S. households that watched each show’s opening episode. But new data exposes another side to the tale.
The Rings of Power outperformed House of the Dragon
According to new Nielsen viewership statistics obtained by Variety, The Rings of Power actually outperformed House of the Dragon in its debut week in terms of minutes viewed. Between August 29 and September 4, The Rings of Power received 1.3 billion minutes of viewing time.
House of the Dragon, on the other hand, received 781 million minutes of viewing time. Thus ranking it fifth after Me Time, NCIS, and Game of Thrones. It is crucial to remember, however, that Nielsen data only accounts for U.S. television screen viewership and does not account for other devices or viewership from other countries.
The recent study on viewership also emphasizes the fact that the rise of streaming has entirely transformed how a series’ success is judged. Prior to streaming, there was clear and easily accessible data on which shows were performing well and which were not. But this is much more difficult in today’s entertainment market.
Regardless of viewership numbers, the love and skill placed into both The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon mean that fans of fantasy television are the real winners here.
