Amazon’s expensive show, Lord of the Rings, saw only 37% viewership in US and 45% overseas.

Amazon's Lord of the Rings despite being one of the most anticipated and expensive series last year saw only 37% of the viewers complete the series and received lot of criticism.

The show based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel which reportedly took almost $500 million just to produce the first season, was poorly received by fans.

Although Amazon has been keeping its viewership data, a viewership data released by The Hollywood Reporter says otherwise.

THR claims that only 37% of its US viewers watched the series from start to finish. Meanwhile, 45% of its overseas audiences reportedly finished season one.

According to industry standards a programme must retain at least 50% of its viewers in order to be considered successful and since this is not the case for the show, this is quite concerning.

However, Amazon Studios CEO Jennifer Salke and Amazon Studio’s Head of Global TV Vernon Sanders says the show has been a successful one.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon Studios CEO Jennifer Salke said the series is a triumph in her eyes.

She said, “This desire to paint the show as anything less than a success — it’s not reflective of any conversation I’m having internally. That’s a huge opportunity for us. The first season required a lot of setting up.”

According to an article by Fandom Wire, the second season is going to feature more exciting plots and schemes, with an even more dramatic narrative to introduce and bigger battles to execute.

In a interview Amazon Studio’s Head of Global TV Vernon Sanders’ with Deadline said he also agrees with Salke’s assessment of the programme's success.

“It’s been a tremendous success for us, it performed incredibly well around the globe. It is by far our biggest scripted series, it is the most acquisitive show that we’ve put out," he said.

He said the series had a great impact on fans rekindling their love for the novels.

“We are really proud that the show drove renewed interest in the books, we saw spikes in book sales. It’s just been a company-wide success and as significant as our investment has been, it has more than paid off for us,” he said.

Reportedly, Season 2 has already commenced production and is expected to be released not anytime soon.