The Rings Of Power Is Crushing House Of The Dragon By One Important Metric
For epic fantasy fans, there's arguably never been a better time to be alive. Amazon has gone all in with both "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" and "Wheel of Time," while HBO has once again dipped its toe into the world of Westeros with "House of the Dragon." Even more fascinating, however, is that both "The Rings of Power" and "House of the Dragon" are currently airing at the same time. Both shows have garnered a positive reception, as well, with the former currently sitting at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and the latter at 86%.
Of course, them being epic fantasy shows is about where the similarities end. "House of the Dragon" is far more violent and deals with weightier and taboo themes while "The Rings of Power" is very much more along the lines of a traditional, whimsical fantasy outing. Still, it's hard not to compare them when they're both backed by major networks and feature high budgets, with Reuters reporting in 2018 that Amazon was expecting to spend nearly $500 million just to produce and promote "The Rings of Power." However, it seems as if the "Lord of the Rings" prequel is also crushing "House of the Dragon" in another non-budget metric.
The Rings of Power beat House of the Dragon in viewership
Per Variety, "The Rings of Power" and "House of the Dragon" finally squared up for a ratings match and, according to Nielsen's metrics, the former clearly came out on top. The "Lord of the Rings" show pulled in 1.3 billion viewing minutes and topped the chart for the week of August 29 through September 4 while the "Game of Thrones" prequel achieved a viewership of 781 million viewing minutes and came in at fifth place.
While this is definitely an incredible achievement for "The Rings of Power," there are a few factors to consider here. "House of the Dragon" airs on HBO and streaming, and these numbers don't take into account live viewership, only streaming. "The Rings of Power," on the other hand, is strictly a streaming show for Amazon. There's also the fact that "The Rings of Power" had more time and more episodes — it premiered with two episodes on September 1. Meanwhile, "House of the Dragon" had less time, with its third episode debuting on September 4, meaning it only had a limited window to make its way to the charts before Nielsen stopped counting for the week.
Regardless, "The Rings of Power" has definitely proven itself to be a behemoth, and it is pulling in the viewership to prove it. According to Amazon's own metrics, it pulled in 25 million viewers during its first day (per Deadline). So either way one looks at it, both shows are performing quite well and are proof that audiences crave big-budget, intricate epic fantasy on their screens.