Now that bothHouse of the DragonandThe Rings of Powerwrapped up their debut seasons, it seems fairer to compare how well these two fantasy blockbusters did for their respective streamers, though the outlook really hasn’t changed much.
As prequels to beloved propertiesGame of ThronesandThe Lord of the Ringsrunning at the same time, the two series were pitted against each other for the past two months, despite data showing there’s a pretty significant overlap between fans that preferred one and watched the other. Nonetheless,House of the Dragonhad apparently come out triumphant, even when only accounting for streaming viewership without adding HBO’s cable users.
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In that sense, data analytics firm Chartr (@chartrdaily), recently put out a definitive breakdown that aims to measure each show’s performance. Relevant metrics such as related Google searches (USA only) showHouse of the Dragonwith a wide lead over its competitor. As for how both shows fared with critics, scores on review aggregator sites were more even with a slight edge inHouse of the Dragon’s favor. On the other hand, audience reception was nowhere as close, showingRings of Powerfell off with users on practically every platform, including Amazon’s own rating system.
Chartr’s own Instagram post states that all differences aside, it would appear that both shows were big wins for their own studios. However, the caveat is thatHouse of the Dragon’s $200m budget was, at the very least, 2.5 times smaller thanRings of Power’s, even with two extra episodes. The firm also notes that preferences seem to be pretty split, as their own office poll resulted in a draw.
Out of the two,Rings of Powerhas more room for improvementin season 2, especially considering its source material is much more scarce and less direct thanHouse of the Dragon, which had the benefit of author George R.R. Martin constantly praising the work done by the showrunners. In the meantime, both fantasy series will go back to the drawing board, as the complexity of each production means fans won’t be seeing a new season of either one until 2024.
Some criticism behindThe Rings of Powerpoints to it copyingtoo manyLord of the Ringsmoments or themes, without directly adhering to certain aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore.House of the Dragoncertainly doesn’t suffer from that, as Martin has been gushing praise about how some of his characters made the jump.
House of the Dragonseason 1 is now available on HBO Max andRings of Powerseason 1 is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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