UPDATE 10/1: HBO’s next official number didn’t top this one. Episode 7 tied Episode 3 at 7 million U.S. viewers, HBO left out the worldwide total, and the season is averaging way below The Penguin, which never got a Season 2.
UPDATE 9/25: A second straight week on Nielsen’s Top 10 is in the books, with the minutes rising.
UPDATE 9/17: Nielsen’s independent U.S. data for this episode’s week is in — the show made the Top 10 at No. 8 with 500 million minutes after missing the first two weeks.
UPDATE 9/10: The Episode 4 test below has its chart answer — the audience came back, with Episode 4 matching the premiere’s peak and Lanterns taking back-to-back weekly No. 1s on HBO Max.
UPDATE 9/4: A second scoreboard disagrees. Lanterns fell from No. 2 to No. 4 on Samba TV’s chart of the most-watched streaming shows in America while Reacher held at No. 1.
The episode everyone spent the week fighting about just posted the biggest numbers of the series.
Episode 3 of Lanterns pulled in 10 million viewers worldwide across its first three days, with 7 million in the U.S., HBO Max announced.
That’s a series high.
The premiere opened to 9.3 million worldwide and 6.6 million in the U.S. over the same three-day window. So Episode 3 beat the launch by roughly 700,000 viewers.
The pilot has doubled its audience
HBO Max also says the premiere episode has now passed 20 million viewers worldwide, more than double its opening three days.
That climb has moved Lanterns into the top five series launches in HBO Max history, per the streamer. It was already the biggest premiere ever for a DC Studios show on the platform.
One number is still missing: Episode 2. HBO Max says the show keeps growing week to week but hasn’t released that figure, which would put it somewhere between 9.3 and 10 million.
The backlash didn’t cost it viewers, at least not yet
Episode 3 is “OutKast,” the John Stewart origin hour that set off the loudest fan backlash of the season and drew this site’s review calling it complete garbage, while James Gunn called it one of the best.
But look at the timing. The episode had to air before anyone could get mad at it. The 10 million walked in the door first, and the fight started over what they found inside.
So these numbers measure the audience Lanterns built through its first two episodes. What they can’t measure is whether that audience comes back after this one.
That test is Episode 4. Plenty of viewers spent the week saying they’re done with the series. Sunday’s numbers show whether they meant it.
One early signal: Lanterns held its series highs on the FlixPatrol charts straight through the backlash week. But those are chart points, not episode viewers.
Peacemaker is the reason to wait before calling it. Season 2 opened 22% above its Season 1 finale and still lost nearly 40% of its audience by the end. Strong early numbers don’t protect the back half of a season, as the audience votes one episode at a time.
What it means for Season 2
These are HBO Max’s own numbers, released when the streamer wants to release them, and Nielsen’s independent U.S. data doesn’t arrive until later this month.
But 10 million and a top-five launch is exactly what Damon Lindelof was pointing at when he said Season 2 happens “if it’s successful.”
HBO has still made no announcement.
Episode 4 streams Sunday, September 6 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.
