Ratings: House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power hold strong, Interview With The Vampire opens big

Nielsen has released its newest streaming numbers, this time for the week of September 12-18, 2022. Nielsen is the most reliable ratings reporter in the game; the only catch is that their numbers take a little longer to come out. Still, they’re much more reliable than streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ self-reporting their own stuff.

So how were the streaming wars looking in the middle of last month? Take a look at the top 10 most-watched streaming shows that week:

1. Cobra Kai — Netflix — 1.918 billion minutes watched
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power  — Prime Video — 988 million minutes watched
3. House of the Dragon — HBO Max — 960 million minutes
4. In The Dark — Netflix — 825 million minutes
5. The Crown — Netflix — 796 million minutes
6. Cocomelon — Netflix — 785 million minutes
7. Game of Thrones — HBO Max — 700 million minutes
8. Sins of our Mother — Netflix — 661 million minutes
9. NCIS — Netflix — 635 million minutes
10. Thor: Love and Thunder — Disney+ — 621 million minutes

Netflix dropped 10 new episodes of Cobra Kai all at once on September 9, and people obviously gobbled them up. As for The Crown placing so well, I remind you that Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8, which I’m sure led to a surge of interest.

We’re most interested in the ongoing fantasy battle between The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon; this chart covers the period between the third and fourth episodes of the former show and the fourth and fifth episodes of the latter. Per Variety, both shows came down a bit from their viewership numbers the weeks previous, when The Rings of Power was viewed for 1.2 billion minutes and House of the Dragon for 1 billion minutes.

The two shows were more evenly matched this time around, although we always have to point out the caveat that this chart only tracks streaming numbers. The Rings of Power is only available through streaming, but House of the Dragon is both streamed on HBO Max and available to be watched linearly on HBO, so there are lots of people watching House of the Dragon on normal old TV not accounted for here. It’s also nice to see that House of the Dragon is driving a renewed interest in Game of Thrones, which places in the top 10 despite ending years ago.

Netflix getting a Netflix Basic With Ads plan for $7 per month

Beyond that, Netflix dominates the chart as usual. I wonder if they’ll pick up even more viewers when the net Netflix Basic With Ads plan (which goes for $7 per month and is exactly what it sounds like) drops on November 3.

Meanwhile, Variety reports that AMC’s streaming service AMC+ had its best two days since it debuted in 2020 thanks to the final-ever episodes of The Walking Dead and the series premiere of Interview With The Vampire, both of which kicked off on October 2.

In fact, Interview was the biggest series premiere in the streamer’s history. The show is pretty good, so I’m pleased to hear it. And I’m sure people will tune in for the big Walking Dead series finale on November 20.

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