With interesting source material, a popular franchise and an unimaginably large budget, Rings of Power had what it took to succeed like Game of Thrones or Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, which adapted The Lord of the Rings. Jeff Bezos invested over $700 million in the production, of which $250 million was spent buying the film rights. He does everything to recoup the costs. The latest idea of the head of Amazon, however, aroused a lot of controversy. In return for the views, he offered Brazilians coupons to… order food for delivery.
A tasty benefit with one catch
Making the screenings more pleasant with a selected snack is not controversial in itself. Cinemas have been offering sets with nachos and popcorn for years, and streaming services are establishing cooperation with restaurants and suppliers, offering discount codes for mutually provided services. A similar step was taken by the Amazon Prime Video platform, whose Brazilian branch offered viewers a code for 30 Brazilian reals, i.e. about 5 US dollars or 25 zlotys. Users, in return for purchasing access to the service, could use it in the iFood application, one of the largest companies specializing in food delivery services in Brazil. Hook? Anyone who wanted to take advantage of the benefit had to watch the first episode of “Rings of Power”, an Amazon series based on JRR Tolkien’s books.
The information appeared on Instagram a month after the premiere of the last episode. The number of coupons was limited, and the promotion itself was very popular. Just a few days after its announcement, Prime’s Brazilian representative reported that there were few codes left.
Amazon Brazil social media post advertising the benefit Instagram, @primevideobr
Is it that bad? Bezos refuses to accept defeat
Although Tolkien’s works have cult status today, the source material of “Rings of Power” was insufficient to base many hours of the series on it. It consisted of several verses of the song, and the fans emphasized that it was “just a handful of footnotes to “The Return of the King”. Amazon’s production was also boycotted due to the rich representation of actors of a skin color other than white, which was criticized by, among others, right-wing circles and orthodox fans of the original The cast of both The Rings of Power and Jackson’s trilogy stood firm against discrimination, pointing out that “Middle-earth’s strength has always been diversity.”
However, the controversies themselves were not the cause of the lower-than-expected viewership. First of all, there was no cohesion, ideas for an interesting plot and consistency. In the first weeks, HBO’s “House of the Dragon” achieved much better results. The Amazon series was watched by 1.8 million US households and received just under 2 million streams in its first four days of release, compared to the corresponding 2.6 million and 4.8 million Game of Thrones series. “Rings” eventually overtook this production, but lost to “The Watcher” in the aggregate ranking. Netflix’s #1 series had 2.3 billion views, while Rings of Power had 1.1 billion.
Source: Gazeta
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
