UPDATE 10/8: The season’s last number is a record. The finale drew 10.5 million worldwide, and a renewal is reportedly pending.
UPDATE 10/2: Week five is in. Lanterns moved up to No. 7, its third chart in a row.
UPDATE 10/1: HBO’s own count is in for Episode 7. It tied the series high at 7 million U.S. viewers, and the season is averaging way below The Penguin, which never got a Season 2.
(Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that Nielsen released data for three weeks of content)
Lanterns missed Nielsen twice, and then made the chart on its third try.
Nielsen released three weeks of streaming Top 10 charts at once: August 17–23, August 24–30, and August 31–September 6. That’s the premiere week, the week of Episode 2, and the week of Episode 3.
Lanterns is nowhere to be found on the first two.
On the third, it finally lands.
Nielsen counts all episodes of a series together. Because it also airs on the HBO cable channel, Lanterns is measured against the acquired list, not the originals list.
Lanterns Misses Nielsen Twice
For the premiere week of August 17–23, the bottom of the acquired chart is Modern Family with 455 million minutes watched.
Lanterns did not chart, meaning the premiere came in below that.
That’s the same week HBO Max announced the premiere drew 9.3 million viewers worldwide in three days, one of its five biggest series launches ever. HBO Max’s numbers are its own, counting viewers worldwide. Nielsen is independent, and it counts how much time Americans actually spent watching on their TVs.
For the week of August 24–30, the bottom of the acquired chart is American Dad! with 480 million minutes.
Lanterns came in below that too, with two episodes out and the first few hours of Episode 3, which premiered the night of August 30.
HBO Max never announced a viewership number for Episode 2.
Lanterns Makes The Chart In Week Three
The week of August 31–September 6 is where Lanterns shows up.
The series lands at No. 8 on the acquired chart with 500 million minutes watched, the same number as Family Guy one spot up, and ahead of NCIS and The First 48.
Four episodes are in that count: the first three, plus the opening hours of Episode 4, which premiered the night of September 6.
This is the week of Episode 3, the one HBO Max touted as a series high with 10 million viewers worldwide.
The Big Bang Theory tops the chart with more than double the minutes, and it’s the only other HBO Max title on the list.
Why Three Weeks Of Numbers Came Out At Once
Nielsen announced on September 16 that it sped up its streaming reporting.
The weekly Top 10 charts had been running about a month behind. Nielsen cut that delay in half, and the first chart on the faster schedule published September 17, covering August 31–September 6.
That’s why the premiere week, the Episode 2 week, and the Episode 3 week all arrived on the same day. Going forward, the charts run less than two weeks behind.
The FlixPatrol Charts Just Got Their Answer
On FlixPatrol, Lanterns won the August 24–30 week on HBO Max, its first weekly No. 1, and has been the top show in America on that chart every day.
However, as we’ve said all along, FlixPatrol ranks shows against other shows on the same service. It’s not viewership. The Acolyte topped those charts too, and the real data showed no one was watching it.
Now the real data is in for Lanterns: two weeks at No. 1 on HBO Max that didn’t make America’s top 10, and a third that squeaked in at No. 8, behind Bluey and SpongeBob SquarePants.
So, similar to The Acolyte, what FlixPatrol reveals is that Lanterns is the top of a low pile.
Samba TV pointed in the same direction, dropping Lanterns from No. 2 to No. 4 across the first two weeks.
What It Means For Season 2
Creature Commandos never charted on Nielsen. Peacemaker Season 2 made it once, at No. 10, in finale week after losing nearly 40% of its audience.
That makes Lanterns, “the biggest DC launch in HBO Max history,” the first DCU series to make Nielsen’s Top 10 before its finale. It took three episodes and three weeks to get there.
Season 2 is still not greenlit.
HBO boss Casey Bloys said this week that no Lanterns Season 2 is in development, and Damon Lindelof said a renewal happens “if it’s successful.”
Per CBN’s insiders, Paramount is already holding meetings over the backlash to HBO’s shows, Lanterns included, and David Ellison wants DC television reaching Spider-Man numbers.
Nielsen’s next chart covers September 7–13, and on the new schedule, it arrives next week.
The question now is whether Lanterns stays on the list.
