Six weeks in, comparisons between House of the Dragon and Rings of Power might be growing a bit tiresome, especially because the most recent data suggests these two fantasy series are playing in entirely different leagues.
Previous reports had claimed House of the Dragon is consistently drawing 29 million viewers per episode, and the latest metrics from Parrot Analytics point to the HBO juggernaut currently outperforming The Lords of the Rings prequel by twofold as the most in-demand content right now in the United States. Even worse for Rings of Power, the show is lagging behind the MCU's latest show, despite She-Hulk being far from Marvel Studios' most popular series and Disney Plus only having roughly a third of the subscribers of Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. and Canada.
How do these latest metrics work? Well, Parrot Analytics' output data (via Forbes) reflects an interest in a show measured up against that of an average TV series, resulting in House of the Dragon possessing as much 55.4x more times than the average, while Rings of Power has a 30x in the week than ran from September 10 through 16. Surprisingly, She-Hulk edges Rings of Power with 33.2x to make up the top three series right now, with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Welcome to Wrexham docuseries sitting at an admirable fourth place with a 20.2x score.
Suffice it to say, complex data that measures viewership or interest is not really necessary to arrive at the conclusion that House of the Dragon's impact has been greater than Rings of Power. Even a simple Google Trends search will reveal the same, be it in the U.S. or on a worldwide scale. What should be most worrying about Rings of Power is that all these numbers have been on a downtrend since its premiere, whereas House of the Dragon has only harvested more traffic and viewership.
The first week of September was the last time interest in Rings of Power came close to matching House of the Dragon, although after that the Game of Thrones spinoff has become two or three times more popular on the internet. To be clear, Amazon's long-term commitment to its billion-dollar production should serve to appease any fear or doubts regarding Rings of Power's future, it’s just become clearer that the series is punching far below its weight.
This should also highlight their contrasting styles, as House of the Dragon's time jumps have covered a lot of ground, as opposed to the slow burn Rings of Power seems to be aiming for. Nevertheless, it’s beyond doubt which one is off to a better start.
House of the Dragon airs on Sunday on HBO while Rings of Power drops new episodes on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.
Source: Forbes