Did Amazon Lie About the Rings of Power Viewership?

Television

The general public has long been forced to rely almost solely on the honesty of streaming services to accurately release their viewing figures, though those figures are usually withheld unless some large number is achieved. Only by consolidating and comparing several third-party reports can we get an idea of whether or not the reported viewing figures are accurate. When Amazon Prime claimed that the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power received 25 million global viewers on the first day — which decimated the previous highest-viewed premiere record —  several people threw this number into question. The primary hypothesis for this astronomical number was that it was the combined viewership of both episodes 1 and 2, which would still make the first episode a contender for the highest-viewed premiere of all time. However, it would also be classified as extreme manipulation of the audience to mislead them into believing that the 25 million number would be applied simply to the first episode. By combining the first two episodes, they’re duplicating the actual viewership, as the episode 2 viewers most likely watched episode 1 first. This theory seems to be accurate, but it is far worse than that as well.

Recent reports from several mainstream sites have clarified this 25 million number, saying that 25 million people “sampled the premiere.” The choice of the word “sampled” is an odd one that has not historically been used to describe a type of viewing. It is surmised that “sampled” may be as simple as opening the page in Prime where a viewer can read the description of the episode and click play if they wish. It’s possible, with this clarification, that 25 million people merely thought about watching the first two episodes of The Rings of Power. If this supposition is correct, this would only heighten the manipulation that Amazon was already attempting by combining the viewership of the first two episodes.

Questioning the validity of that 25 million viewership number does not end with the clarification of “sampled.” It continues with the recent release of the Samba TV number of 1.8 million The Rings of Power viewers. This number has The Rings of Power premiere viewership falling well short of Kenobi, Stranger Things season 4, and House of the Dragon. With these tally taken into consideration, there is no possible way that The Rings of Power is the biggest premiere of all time, as it’s not even the biggest premiere of the year. Samba TV is a data collection unit that operates on some smart TVs in the United States, making their report a percentage of the total viewership that can be extrapolated to guess the total using comparisons of similar shows for which the total viewership is known.

House of the Dragon had a record-breaking premiere of roughly 10 million viewers, and Samba TV reported that their percentage of U.S. viewers equaled 4.8 million. 4.8 million compared to 1.8 million is an astronomical difference in American Samba TV viewers, yet Rings of Power somehow more than doubled the total viewership of House of the Dragon. That seems highly implausible, especially considering all the other manipulation that Amazon is doing with their numbers and their report that they need to declare The Rings of Power a success no matter what.

The Nielsen TV ratings for The Rings of Power will release soon, further clarifying the true viewership for the premiere episode. Until then, 25 million is a clear fabrication meant to mislead people into believing that this show is a resounding success, most likely in an attempt to entice hesitant viewers to check it out while appeasing any shareholders worried about their investment in the most expensive television show of all time going sour. Considering the general backlash of fans and the unequaled boredom of normies, there is little doubt that the viewership for episode 3 will decline steeply, leading to a lackluster season total viewership. What harebrained schemes Amazon will use to fluff up their declining viewership cannot be guessed at this point, but whatever numbers or positive press releases they announce cannot be trusted after the outright lie that is 25 million global viewers.