Ratings: Season 2 (E01, E02, E03) lost 63% of Season 1's audience according to Nielsen

[LTL]

I found it interesting to take a look at the number of people giving imdb episode ratings at the start and end of the first couple of seasons of WoT and a few other fantasy shows to get an idea of the audience retention and engagement. This is far from a comprehensive or accurate picture of the shows for reasons including, but not limited to, how long ago they were released, streamed or not, episode release schedule, popularity of the particular episodes etc. I think it gives at least some information though so I'll share here in case anyone else finds it interesting.

 

WoT: S1E1 - 12.3k, S1E8 - 7.9k, S2E1 - 3.4k, S2E8 - 3.3k

 

GoT: S1E1 - 53k, S1E10 - 43k, S2E1 - 33k, S2E10 - 37k

Witcher: S1E1 - 25.8k, S1E8 - 21.5k, S2E1 - 14.8k, S2E8 - 12.3k

Shannara: S1E1 - 2.1k, S1E10 - 1.2k, S2E1 - 920, S2E10 - 620

RoP: S1E1 - 52k, S1E8 - 27k

 

Biggest surprise for me is RoP having a similar number of ratings as GoT for S1E1. WoT numbers fit with the narrative that the quality of S1 disappointed a little but better for retaining interest than Shannara and RoP. Then a poor finale, 2 year break, and lack of promotion for S2 hit numbers hard (although it is recent so numbers should creep up) but quality of S2 is actually good so it has retained interest well for the early viewers of it at least. Fwiw GoT holds its numbers for S3 while the Witcher plummets fairly hard. Hopefully those S2 numbers for WoT increase significantly over time and the later viewers also remain engaged.

Edited October 12, 2023 by LTL

[TAOMajorDeath]

Well, you all got me with the real statistics.  

 

For me, I just didn't even know it was out until this past weekend!!

 

I loved season 1; loved the vision coming from this producer; and have devoured every book over the years; usually rereading from book 1 to whatever version had just been published AGAIN 🙂

 

I loved Season 2; found it riveting, thrilling, and in depth.  I know liberties have been taken, and scenes and characters left out -- a necessity from transitions of media.

 

Love the characters; love the new Matt; can follow the plot lines.  Absolutely love Moiraine!!!

 

I wouldn't read too much into the initial statistics -- GOOD QUALITY will be watched over and over in the New Digital World and I am certain this epic endeavor will attain LoR, Harry Potter, and possibly Star Wars/Star Trek status!! 🙂   

[Ralph]

4 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

Does Nielsen release numbers on a schedule? Or just sort of randomly? I'm still waiting for numbers for the week of Sept 11 - 17.

https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/

 

423m

 

would be surprised if next week (ep 6) doesn't see a jump

Edited October 13, 2023 by Ralph

[SinisterDeath]

2 hours ago, Ralph said:

https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/

 

423m

 

would be surprised if next week (ep 6) doesn't see a jump

It was also likely the first week where retention hits and less new viewers binging episodes 1-3, or 1-4 when they find out the season started a week late. (Like how week 2 numbers were the same as week 1)

 

What's astounding is how good One Piece numbers are... 3 weeks after the entire series released in one go. 

 

Also... Wtf is Virgin River and why is it so bloody popular?

 

I've literally never heard of it... 

[books of Robert Jordan]

3 hours ago, Ralph said:

https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/

 

423m

 

would be surprised if next week (ep 6) doesn't see a jump

 

S1 had 537.

Decrease after decrease after decrease, no wonder that Amazon did not come forth any big statement or press release.

[books of Robert Jordan]

And now we know without a doubt why the showrunner said very weird things in the last weeks.

[SinisterDeath]

9 hours ago, books of Robert Jordan said:

 

S1 had 537.

Decrease after decrease after decrease, no wonder that Amazon did not come forth any big statement or press release.

 

S1E1-3 had ~1150M mins viewed
S1E4 had ~600M mins viewed
S1E5 had ~520M mins viewed

That means between Season 1 Week 1 and Season 1 Week 3 it had a 54% drop in viewers.

S2E1-3 had 515M mins viewed

S2E4 had 515M mins viewed

S2E5 had 423M mins viewed

 

That means between Season 2 week 1 and Season 2 week 3 it had a 17% drop in viewers.

 

These are also US Domestic numbers only. Not Worldwide numbers which are going to be extremely different for Amazon's pocketbook. 

Episode 5 was "Damane". Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne were captured by Liandrin and were traveling through the ways. Loial was being presented as a "gift". Perrin was learning about being a Wolf Brother. 

Rand & Moiraine were escaping while Lanfear was pulling herself together. Ishamael played Gay Chicken with Rand in the dream world.

Episode "6" is going to be one of those episodes that I'd expect to get a bit more "buzz".

Something remember is that these "Ratings" are snapshots from "Monday" to "Sunday" (They are also a MONTH OLD).
Since these episodes come out on Friday, due to real life not everyone is actually able to watch them between "Friday to Monday". So when they are actually able to watch episode 5 or 6, may not actually appear on the chart until a week later.

 

Which is just another way of saying... We might see a bump "next" week, and another bump the week after.

[Pandemonium]

from the numbers above it looks like wot has a better completion rate than Rings of power which was 37%.  

 

Pretty sure Amazon won't cut ROP so I doubt they will cut WOT either, but they could make it 5 seasons.  but what is 2 more seasons at this point?

[Scarloc99]

On 10/13/2023 at 3:17 AM, SinisterDeath said:

It was also likely the first week where retention hits and less new viewers binging episodes 1-3, or 1-4 when they find out the season started a week late. (Like how week 2 numbers were the same as week 1)

 

What's astounding is how good One Piece numbers are... 3 weeks after the entire series released in one go. 

 

Also... Wtf is Virgin River and why is it so bloody popular?

 

I've literally never heard of it... 

think a really bad hallmark movie as a tv series lol, my wife watched it, briefly thankfully, thinking at some point it would stop being so sickly sweet, it just got worse. 
 

For some reason it has a massive following. 

[Scarloc99]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:12 PM, Pandemonium said:

from the numbers above it looks like wot has a better completion rate than Rings of power which was 37%.  

 

Pretty sure Amazon won't cut ROP so I doubt they will cut WOT either, but they could make it 5 seasons.  but what is 2 more seasons at this point?

There is a bigger PR issue with cutting something they have paid for the rights for vs an original series. 
 

Producers and writers are used to having there original work cancelled, think firefly as an example. An author expects to see their work finished, if a TV or Production company pays the rights to an entire series and then bails half way through it is going to raise alarm bells for all other authors. 
 

I also wonder if there is a clause in the contract signed for WOT regarding this? 

[SinisterDeath]

2 hours ago, Scarloc99 said:

think a really bad hallmark movie as a tv series lol, my wife watched it, briefly thankfully, thinking at some point it would stop being so sickly sweet, it just got worse. 
 

For some reason it has a massive following. 

WHY?

Lol

[Scarloc99]

1 hour ago, SinisterDeath said:

WHY?

Lol

I have no idea and neither it seems does the internet lol, Comfort TV it is called, and every time a new season drops it goes stupidly big in the numbers. 

[Elder_Haman]

Anecdotal, I know, but I'm seeing far more articles about WoT from the "nerd sites" than I did following S1. Speaks to a more engaged audience, IMO.

[Ralph]

https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/

 

up a lot as we predicted. and this is only 18-24 so only two days after ep 6 aired 

 

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Ralph

[Elder_Haman]

7 minutes ago, Ralph said:

https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/

 

up a lot as we predicted. and this is only 18-24 so only two days after ep 6 aired 

 

 

This is fantastic news! I suspect the numbers will continue to climb through the end of the season.

[SinisterDeath]

9 minutes ago, Ralph said:

https://www.nielsen.com/top-ten/

 

up a lot as we predicted. and this is only 18-24 so only two days after ep 6 aired 

 

 

For Reference, that's S2E6: Eyes without Pity, which is the episode where Madeleine Madden acted her ass off.

I suspect we'll see a we'll see a spike at the start of the following week coming off this episode, followed by a dip over the weekend/start of the next week. (Episode 7 was kinda meh)
Episode 8/finale numbers could be lower then expected, but it'll be the week after that, that I'm looking forward to seeing.

Hopefully Rosamund Pike doesn't try to block any kind of nominations for Madeleine Madden on this episode or Zoë Robins a few episodes ago, or even Kate Fleetwood...

[Elder_Haman]

1 minute ago, SinisterDeath said:

Hopefully Rosamund Pike doesn't try to block any kind of nominations for Madeleine Madden on this episode or Zoë Robins a few episodes ago, or even Kate Fleetwood...

Why would she? Would seem to undermine her own chances in the future.

[Elder_Haman]

On 10/12/2023 at 9:11 PM, books of Robert Jordan said:

 

S1 had 537.

Decrease after decrease after decrease, no wonder that Amazon did not come forth any big statement or press release.

This didn't age well.

[SinisterDeath]

1 minute ago, Elder_Haman said:

Why would she? Would seem to undermine her own chances in the future.

Obviously if she did block it, such an action wouldn't be made public... but it would be public in the sense that the show would only put forth Rosamund Pike's nomination.

[books of Robert Jordan]

Increase.

[books of Robert Jordan]

runtimes of episodes:

 

1: 54 vs 67 (minutes)
2: 57 vs 68
3: 58 vs 69
4: 61 vs 61
5: 60 vs 69
6: 62 vs 70
7: 60 vs 65
8: 57 vs 70

And I'd really love to see the real data from Amazon: instead of an aggregated number (Nielsen) how many people watched the new episode, how many S1E1 and so on per week, did they watch the whole episode, what parts are skipped, what parts are the most replayed etc. We will never know these numbers and things, along with budget etc, naturally.

[Scarloc99]

13 hours ago, SinisterDeath said:

Hopefully Rosamund Pike doesn't try to block any kind of nominations for Madeleine Madden on this episode or Zoë Robins a few episodes ago, or even Kate Fleetwood...

Out of left field, everything I had read about Pike as a person is that she is supportive and does not play politics, I don't see her blocking anything for anyone and instead enjoying everyones success. 

[Scarloc99]

3 hours ago, books of Robert Jordan said:

runtimes of episodes:

 

1: 54 vs 67 (minutes)
2: 57 vs 68
3: 58 vs 69
4: 61 vs 61
5: 60 vs 69
6: 62 vs 70
7: 60 vs 65
8: 57 vs 70

And I'd really love to see the real data from Amazon: instead of an aggregated number (Nielsen) how many people watched the new episode, how many S1E1 and so on per week, did they watch the whole episode, what parts are skipped, what parts are the most replayed etc. We will never know these numbers and things, along with budget etc, naturally.

Once Amamzon start selling advertising space on Prime they will be forced to make all those details public, demo splits, numbers watching each show etc so that advertisers can price the adspace accordingly for bidding. 

[SinisterDeath]

1 hour ago, Scarloc99 said:

Out of left field, everything I had read about Pike as a person is that she is supportive and does not play politics, I don't see her blocking anything for anyone and instead enjoying everyones success. 

My thought is.

A) Rosamund's acting in Gone Girl still sits in the back of my mind.

B) Pretty much every actor is by definition a Narcissist. The "image" they let the world see is the image they've curated for the world to see.

C) If we only see Rosamund's scenes nominated and no one else I believe that would confirm my gone girl paranoia; But if Madeleine, Zoë, and Kate get nominations in addition to Rosamund, then I think that'll erase my gone girl paranoia. lol

 

 

[Pandemonium]

. If season 2 is still getting decent numbers (albeit lower than season 1) with no marketing then this viewership is likely the baseline numbers that all future seasons will get.  With more viral moments, word of mouth, and hopefully increasing show quality this show will likely grow to season 3.  I'm optimistic like that.  Season 1 shed some people, but not everyone-- and some of those people may come back over time.  

 

This is anecdotal but I got 4 friends that didn't like season 1 and to restart and  and make it through season 2.  All of them enjoyed it more.  I know alot of people too that have season 2 on their watchlist (some due to my word of mouth) that will eventually watch.  I don't think wheel of time will die out as fast as other Amazon shows between seasons

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Pandemonium