Owain Arthur as Prince Durin IV; Sophia Nomvete as Disa in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Data tracking firm Nielsen released new data that shows watch time for The Rings of Power Season 2’s third week on its Top 10 charts declined by over 26% as Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon MGM Studios, attempted to spin the show as a success.

Robert Aramayo as Elrond and Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Nielsen revealed via Variety that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power saw total minutes watch decline to 747 million for the week of September 9 to 15, 2024. That is a 26.7% decline from the previous week where Nielsen reported that it had 1.019 billion minutes watched.

Nielsen Top 10 Original Streaming Data for the week of September 9-15, 2024

As noted by X user NowItsKnown, not only is the show now seeing a decline week over week, but it is also another piece of evidence that many people abandoned this show during the first season.

The first season’s fifth episode was able to bring in 988 million minutes watched. Season 2’s numbers are a declined of 24.3% compared to Season 1.

 

Interestingly, these new numbers that show a significant falloff in viewership not only within the second season but also compared to the first season came as Jennifer Salke informed Variety that the show is a success.

Salke was asked, “How have you found the reaction to Season 2?”

She responded, “Obviously very different marketing levels and all of that [to Season 1]. But that being said, over 55 million people at this point have engaged since Season 2 launched.”

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 15: Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios attends “The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power” Los Angeles Red Carpet Premiere & Screening on August 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Salke continued, “And if you look at the long-term trajectory, which is how this company looks at an asset like that, this is a long-term investment in that franchise.”

She then declared, “There’s well over 150 million viewers watching and engaging with the show. So I feel really good. I think we all do.”

Morfydd Clark as Galadriel and Charlie Vickers as Sauron in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Furthermore, Salke indicated that the show would still continue on its five-season plan albeit she did not provide a firm confirmation.

She was asked, “Is there any change to the 50-episode commitment?”

Salke answered, “I don’t think so. [That] commitment is never the thing that’s driving what we’re doing. We’ll continue to make the show as long as we see global customers loving it and watching it to the point where — it is a business.”

“Obviously, we need a large amount of people showing up. And there are a large amount of people, so there’s no debate about whether or not the show will continue,” she claimed.

Tanya Moodie as Gundabel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2024), Amazon MGM Studios

Salke’s claims about the show were already coming under fire even before the Nielsen data was released. Financial analyst Valliant Renegade questioning her use of the term “engaged” rather than using standard metrics of views or watch time.

He wrote on X, “‘Engaged’ ?? WTF does that mean? I smell BS here.”

 

What do you make of this new data from Nielsen?