UPDATE 10/1: HBO’s number stopped growing too. Episode 7 only tied the series high at 7 million U.S. viewers, and the season average is way below The Penguin, which never got a Season 2.
UPDATE 9/25: On Nielsen, no crack yet. Lanterns held No. 8 for a second straight week and added minutes, even as Samba dropped it to No. 4 again.
UPDATE 9/17: The Nielsen ratings are in for both weeks on this chart, and Lanterns is nowhere to be found on either. The week after is when it finally turned up, at No. 8.
Lanterns just showed its first crack.
The DC Studios series fell from No. 2 to No. 4 on Samba TV’s weekly chart of the most-watched streaming programs in America.
Reacher, the show it couldn’t catch in week one, didn’t move. Samba marks it steady at No. 1. Lanterns is marked down.
Samba TV tracks what American households actually watch on their TVs, independent of anything the streamers report.
Week One: No. 2 In America
Lanterns premiered on August 16 as the second most-watched streaming program in the country, according to the Samba TV charts.
Samba’s chart for August 17–23 put it at No. 2 in U.S. household reach for its debut week (pictured above).
The only show ahead of it: Reacher, four seasons in and holding the top spot for a second straight week.
Three weeks earlier, the No. 1 program in America on this same chart was House of the Dragon (pictured above).
Its finale aired August 9, and by Lanterns‘ premiere week, it was gone from the list entirely.
Lanterns was the only HBO Max program in the top 10. It didn’t join House of the Dragon. It took its place.
Week Two: No. 4 While Reacher Stayed Steady
The new chart, covering August 24–30, is where the crack shows. Episode 2 aired on August 23rd.
Reacher holds No. 1 for a third straight week.
Two brand-new Netflix shows went straight past Lanterns: the true-crime series Death of the Pastor’s Wife at No. 2 and The Whisper Man, with Adam Scott and Robert De Niro, at No. 3.
Lanterns dropped two spots to No. 4.
It’s still the only HBO Max program in the top 10. But the debut heat lasted exactly one week.
All Of This Happened Before The Episode 3 Blowup
The August 24–30 window closed the night the third episode, “OutKast,” aired.
That means the slide came before our 0/10 review, before the fan backlash erupted, and before the writer’s ring-is-sexist comments went viral.
None of that is in these numbers yet.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s own count runs the other way, growing from 9.3 million viewers at the premiere to 10 million for Episode 3, a series high.
On FlixPatrol, it’s been the No. 1 show in the U.S. on HBO Max every single day since it debuted.
HBO’s number is growing. The Samba TV chart position isn’t.
Samba’s next chart covers August 31 through September 6, the first full week after the blowup. Reacher‘s season also wraps this month, which opens up the No. 1 spot.
The Nielsen ratings for the first episode will also be available in a couple of weeks.
Episode 4 streams Sunday, September 6 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max.
