Amazon's 'Rings of Power' draws 25 million views on first day

Amazon.com said its Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series drew more than 25 million viewers worldwide on its first day. 

The series, based on the universe created by JRR Tolkein and set a few thousand years before the events of The Hobbit, was the biggest-ever debut on the tech giant’s Prime Video service, Amazon said in a statement Saturday. 
 

Amazon does not release viewership data for most of its shows. But streaming services are starting to disclose more information to tout their success and signal their scale to advertisers. Amazon will work with Nielsen to release data for its upcoming production of Thursday Night Football. 
 

Launching with two episodes in 240 counties and territories across the globe on September 1, the J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay co-created Rings of Power snared more 25 million viewers in its first day, according to the Jeff Bezos founded streamer.

Amazon has invested an estimated $1 billion on the project, including $250 million for the rights to the franchise, in an effort to compete against streaming giants like Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+. 
 

The series was launched in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide this month, and new episodes will be released weekly through Oct. 14.
 

Streaming services are increasingly turning to blockbuster shows to draw viewers as competition heats up. Netflix credited the new season of Stranger Things released earlier this year for reducing subscriber losses, while Warner Bros Discovery Co. last month launched House of the Dragon, the prequel to its hit Game of Thrones series. 
 

Taking place thousands of years before the tales of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power takes fans new and old back Middle-earth and the peaceful time of the Second Age …well, it looks peaceful at first. The eight-episode first season will run until October 14.
 

However, there is a lot more Rings of Power to come. When Prime Video picked up the rights from the Tolkien estate in 2017, for a reported $250 million, the streamer made a commitment for a five-season run. 
 

The big budget Season 1 was shot in New Zealand, where Peter Jackson made his Oscar winning trilogy. Season 2 has seen the show move to the UK, with production about to start there.