The platform wins best-selling novel series for hits as the most-set titles of the Nielsen-era – “Reacher” and “The Wheel of Time” – set the stage for the great “Lord of the Rings” swing.
Amazon was among the earliest players in the streaming landscape, with its first original series debuting in 2013, a few months after the Netflix House of Cards. In the intervening nine years, however, it would not be easy to see a coherent strategy behind the programming on the technology giant’s Prime Video streaming service. Prime Video is nowhere near the volume of programming that Netflix does, nor is it as franchised as streamers linked to older studios (and their realm of IP) are. But where it does not have a decade-long series of film and TV titles it owns to draw on, the company has turned to its roots as an online bookstore to adapt a number of best-selling novels as series.
In fact, Prime Videos are the three biggest original series of the last two plus years, measured by Nielsen – Reacher, The Wheel of Time and The Boys (season two) – based on books. Programs such as Bosch, which ended its seven seasons at Prime in 2021, and Jack Ryan also have bestsellers as source material.
And of course, Amazon Studios, led by Jennifer Salke, has put a lot of effort into a series based on one of the most famous novels of the last century: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. That series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is scheduled to premiere in September. A possibly encouraging sign for the very expensive Rings of Power: the numbers for Wheel of Time. The first season delivered approximately 4.9 billion minutes of viewing time in the United States during its viewing time at the end of 2021 (and a few weeks later, when it remained in Nielsen’s top 10 rankings for streaming originals).
Meanwhile, based on the Lee Child novels, Reacher is Prime Video’s best-performing series in the era of Nielsen streaming rankings, with 5.76 billion viewer minutes in six weeks in the top 10 of the ranking service. It also had the best debut week of any Prime Video series, with 1.84 billion minutes from January 31 to February 6. Season two of The Boys – whose source material is Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comics – got 4.8 billion minutes over six weeks, and came right behind The Boys. The wheel of time. (Amazon says that the recently debuted season three had a better premiere than season two in 2020, but as is usually the case with streamers, it did not provide much supportive data.)
Right behind these three is the platform’s best performing show that is not based on already existing IP, the Nazi thriller Hunters. The show premiered in February 2020 and received 4.58 billion minutes of viewing during the first six weeks of release (the show is several months before Nielsen’s weekly streaming ranking).
Emmy-beloved The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel comes a little behind the four. The series’ fourth season debuted in February and had a little less than 3.4 billion minutes of viewing time during a seven-week run in the top 10. Upload is Prime Video’s only half-hour comedy that has broken into Nielsen’s top 10 in the last two years; The first season in May 2020 had 1.85 billion minutes of viewing over six weeks, but season two in April spent only two weeks on the list, taking 800 million minutes of viewing at that time. (All series obviously continue to be seen after leaving the top 10, but lack more comprehensive data, they can not be quantified.)
Prime Video’s top performing series over the last couple of years shows an eclectic mix of tones and styles – and also a number of release strategies. The platform does not depend on any single pattern. Reacher, Hunters and both seasons of Upload have followed the binge model, releasing entire seasons at once. The Boys and TheWheel of Time premiered with three episodes, and then rolled out the rest of their seasons weekly. After all at once premieres for the first three seasons, The Marvelous changed Mrs. Maisel to debut two episodes per week for four weeks – a pattern copied by Primes Josh Brolin-led supernatural Western Outer Range (1.72 billion minutes in the race of his time in the top 10).
The variety of release patterns suggests that there is not a uniform approach to finding success in streaming – a fact that is also confirmed by other platforms. Netflix is steadfast in following its overbearing model (at least for screenplays), while Disney +’s Marvel and Star Wars shows can maintain solid tune-in with weekly episode premieres.
The Rings of Power follows a weekly release when it premieres in September. Amazon is probably betting that the expectation for the series will be strong enough for viewers to return week after week. It’s an expensive bet – The Rings of Power is among the most expensive series ever assembled. There is evidence in the shows Prime Video has rolled out over the past two years, but that it may work.
This story first appeared in the June 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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