The streaming wars are focused on blockbuster series and movies with the competition being stronger than ever. Only two weeks after the record-breaking release of HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon, Amazon’s major entry was released. Amazon Prime Video has said The Rings of Power, spin-off of The Lord of the Rings, drew more than 25 million viewers on day of release.
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The series is based on the universe created by JRR Tolkien, and is set several thousands of years before the events of the main The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie franchises. It seems Amazon’s rights for the series is quite limited however, with the bulk of the rights recently snapped up by Embracer, a major video game publisher. This debut made The Rings of Power the biggest premiere of any show on the platform, by a long way (the company doesn’t release a lot of viewership numbers).
As these streaming services aim to win over subscribers with premium content and adaptations about much-loved properties, they may well need to share viewership numbers more to attract additional investment and advertisers. Amazon will work with Nielsen to release data for its upcoming production of “Thursday Night Football.”
Amazon also hasn’t shied away from the fact that this series is the most expensive ever made, taking all costs into account. Amazon has invested an estimated $1 billion on the project, including $250 million for the rights to the franchise. This is just the latest major investment in an effort to compete against streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+.
The series was launched in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide this month, and new episodes will be released weekly through Oct. 14. Even though Netflix is seeing mixed fortunes because of the increased competition, streaming is still growing quickly. Streaming actually overtook traditional TV in the US for the first time recently.
