‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ scores record viewership in first 24 hours

Arguably the most highly anticipated show of the past decade has landed on Amazon Prime, and the first two episodes drew massive numbers for the streaming giant.

After years of hype and intrigue, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted Thursday to overwhelmingly positive critical reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has the series sitting on a certified Fresh rating, as critics have scored it at 84 percent. However, the more impressive figure comes from the eye-opening number of viewers who streamed ROP’s initial episode.

Make that 25 million viewers, to be exact, all in the first 24 hours of the show’s premiere. 

Amazon touted the gargantuan viewership data on its Twitter account, which the company praised as its most-watched premiere in Prime’s history.

Of course, Amazon had to have known ROP would bring down the house. In February, the series’ one-minute trailer reeled in some 257 million views in its first 24 hours, a Super Bowl record. At the time, Amazon said it was the single largest viewership for any entertainment trailer that debuted during a Super Bowl. 

Those are not the only records ROP owns. It’s also the most expensive television or streaming series ever made. After spending a reported $250 million for the LOTR rights, the series cost Amazon $425 million to make, and that is just for the first eight-episode season. Season two was greenlit in 2019, so there’s no telling how much the total will be before it finishes filming.

With such a mammoth investment, it’s safe to say that ROP needed a strong opening to assure Amazon that it was money well spent. Now it just has to maintain the pace all the way to the season finale.