UPDATE 10/1: HBO never released an official number for this episode. The next one it did, Episode 7, tied the series high at 7 million U.S. viewers, with the season averaging way below The Penguin, which never got a Season 2.
UPDATE 9/25: Nielsen has now counted Episode 4’s full week, and Lanterns held its Top 10 spot with viewership going up.
UPDATE 9/17: The full Nielsen weeks arrived — Lanterns missed the Top 10 twice, then landed at No. 8 in the week that ends on Episode 4’s premiere night.
Plenty of people spent the last two weeks saying they were done with Lanterns.
Episode 4 just called that bluff.
The first episode to air after the “OutKast” backlash held the series right at its highs on HBO Max’s worldwide chart, according to FlixPatrol, peaking at 565 points on September 9, dead even with the premiere.
Four episodes in, the peaks now read 565, 568, 564, 565.
Nobody left. And this time it’s not a technicality.
Quick reminder on the data: FlixPatrol scores shows by their daily Top 10 positions on HBO Max in nearly 60 countries. It’s a popularity ranking, not a viewer count, HBO Max’s own numbers cover the viewer side.
The Test Episode 4 Just Passed
When Episode 3 hit 10 million viewers, there was a catch: everyone watched it before the backlash started. The 10 million walked in the door first, and the fight began over what they found inside.
Episode 4 is different. It aired September 6, a full week after the loudest stretch of “we’re done with this show” posts. Anyone watching it chose to come back.
They came back.
Episode 4’s chart run matched Episode 3’s almost day for day: 511 points on episode night, 530 Monday, 559 Tuesday, the 565 peak Wednesday.
The audience heard the fight and showed up anyway.
Back-To-Back Weekly Wins
Lanterns also just finished its second straight week as the No. 1 show on HBO Max worldwide.
The weekly totals: Lanterns 3,819 points, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe 3,113, House of the Dragon 2,409.
The show’s weekly number has now grown three weeks running: 3,005, then 3,782, then 3,819.
And for the first time, House of the Dragon finished a full week in third place, behind the Big Bang Theory spinoff.
House of the Dragon Falls Off The Chart
A month ago, social media spent days on “Lanterns is losing to a show that’s off the air.”
On September 9, House of the Dragon dropped out of the U.S. top 10 entirely. Not low on the chart. Off it.
Worldwide, the Game of Thrones prequel is down to 181 points, roughly 70% below its late-August peak of 566. Its Season 3 finale aired August 9, and a month later the audience has finished the season and moved on. That’s the normal life of a completed season.
Lanterns, meanwhile, has been the No. 1 show in America on FlixPatrol every single day since at least August 19, a streak now past three weeks, running through the premiere spike, the backlash, and four episode cycles.
One number worth watching: Nielsen’s first Lanterns data covers only the premiere’s single night, since the show debuted on the last day of that measurement week. The first full Nielsen week arrives next week.
Episode 5 streams Sunday, September 13 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.
