We are having a great time watching the second season of Fallout, and it looks like most fans feel the same way. However, the way the show is being released has changed, and this has affected the viewing numbers. Instead of releasing all episodes at once for people to binge, the show is now coming out weekly. This change has caused a small dip in the ratings, but there is no need to worry. The people in charge are not disappointed at all.
On January 15th, The Hollywood Reporter shared new data from Nielsen, a company that analyzes media data. As expected, the start of Fallout’s second season was very big. The show gathered 794 million minutes of viewing time during the week of December 15th to December 21st. However, this number is much lower than the first season’s debut. In April 2024, the first season earned 2.9 billion minutes in its opening week. That was Amazon’s best premiere ever on their streaming platform.
People who follow TV ratings might already understand why this is happening. Nielsen tracks viewing minutes on devices that send data, but their numbers do not show the complete picture. They only track TV sets, not phones or tablets, but it is still a good way to see what people are watching. The important thing here is that 794 million minutes for just one episode is still very impressive. This is especially true when you compare it to 2.9 billion minutes for a whole season that was available to watch all at once on the first day.
Furthermore, we must consider that many viewers are used to Netflix’s style of releasing all episodes at once. Because of this, some fans are waiting until all episodes are available before they start watching. Overall, Fallout is still doing remarkably well. It even took the 7th spot on Nielsen’s ranking for that week. During that same time, Stranger Things was the most-watched show with 2.37 billion minutes as fans prepared for its series finale.
As things stand right now, Fallout Season 3 is confirmed and is already targeting a production start date of May 1st, 2026. The Prime Video series is one of the few big shows that is sticking to a tight schedule. Season 2 arrived only a year and a half after Season 1. For comparison, we are still waiting for the second season of Star Wars: Ahsoka on Disney Plus. The first season of that show came out in the summer of 2023.
Are you watching each episode of Fallout Season 2 weekly, or are you waiting to visit New Vegas until all the episodes are loaded up and ready to watch?
