Well, it seems that now Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ is struggling to attract young viewers. Based on a study, as of now, 71% of the show’s audience is around 35 years or older in the US. This data point caused a hot discussion on Reddit, with people providing explanations for it.
Importantly, the audiences personal anecdotes confirm what statistics reveal – “Generation Z” does not cares about Tolkien. They learned about Harry Potter and Percy Jackson instead, and currently their likes ensure MCU’s popularity – as a result, popularity of The Rings of Power’s competitor, House of the Dragon, based on George Martin’s books, which tops all the more recent fantasy sagas aimed at more adult audiences.
The Lord of the Rings is not a cultural icon for Gen Z. A lot of teenagers were too young to even watch Peter Jackson’s LotR films, as those released in theaters. The Lord of the Rings is not a book easily understandable to young readers. In fact, several Redditors in the thread have admitted that they were unable to complete it.
Well, to win the younger audiences, The Rings of Power series had to be firm on its own merit and rely on positive word of mouth through the Internet, rather than on any sort of nostalgia.
Also, statistics show that although it has a lavish budget, The Rings of Power had failed to do so, or at least did so to a much lesser extent that its above-mentioned lavish budget suggested.
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