For days, Supergirl sitting atop HBO Max’s movie chart was held up as evidence that the DC Studios film had finally found an audience after its disastrous theatrical performance.
However, Nielsen’s newly released streaming numbers provide considerably more context for that claim.
According to Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 for September 7 through September 13, Supergirl generated just 304 million minutes viewed in the United States during its first four days on HBO Max.
That was enough to make Supergirl the No. 1 movie on HBO Max, but only the fifth most-watched streaming movie across the services measured by Nielsen.
Perhaps more significantly for Warner Bros. and DC Studios, Supergirl’s initial streaming consumption appears to have fallen well below several recent DC movies that were themselves regarded as major box office disappointments.
That includes The Flash, Blue Beetle, Black Adam, and even Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Supergirl Draws 304 Million Minutes on HBO Max
Supergirl arrived on HBO Max on September 10 following a theatrical run that saw the Milly Alcock-led film become one of the biggest superhero box office disappointments in recent years.
Nielsen subsequently measured 304 million minutes of U.S. television viewing for the movie between its HBO Max debut and the end of the September 7-13 measurement period.
That placed Supergirl fifth on Nielsen’s streaming movie chart.
Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Again? led the week with 908 million minutes, followed by The Whisper Man with 404 million and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu with 366 million.
The poster for Supergirl – DC
READ: Disney World Disregards Toy Story Land’s Narrative to Incorporate Toy Story 5 Elements in Update
Perhaps surprisingly, the 2021 Angelina Jolie movie Those Who Wish Me Dead also surpassed Supergirl, accumulating 323 million minutes after arriving on Netflix.
Supergirl followed with 304 million.
That means a five-year-old Warner Bros. catalog title generated more U.S. television streaming consumption during the week than DC Studios’ newest theatrical release managed during its HBO Max debut.
But the comparisons with previous DC releases are even more noteworthy.
Previous DC Flops Drew Bigger Streaming Audiences
Because movies have different runtimes, total minutes aren’t necessarily the easiest way to compare their relative streaming performances.
One method is to divide total viewing minutes by each movie’s runtime, producing what can be described as complete-runtime equivalents.
This does not represent a literal number of individual viewers. Someone could watch a movie twice, while another person could watch only 30 minutes. Nielsen reports viewing minutes rather than individual completed streams.
It does, however, provide a standardized way of comparing consumption across movies with different runtimes.
A screen capture from the Supergirl trailer – YouTube @dcofficial
Supergirl runs approximately 108 minutes. Its 304 million Nielsen minutes therefore translate to approximately 2.8 million complete-runtime equivalents.
According to Nielsen figures, that puts Supergirl substantially behind several recent DC films during their own streaming launches.
The outlet’s comparison puts the movies at approximately:
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — 9 million
- Blue Beetle — 5.9 million
- The Flash — 5.2 million
- Black Adam — 5.1 million
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods — 4.5 million
- Supergirl — 2.8 million
If those comparable Nielsen windows are applied consistently, Supergirl’s performance represents a substantial decline from movies released during the previous DC regime.
Its approximately 2.8 million complete-runtime equivalents would be about 46% below The Flash, 53% below Blue Beetle, 45% below Black Adam, and 38% below Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
The gap with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is even larger at 68.9%.
That’s Not Exactly Good Company
The significance of those comparisons becomes apparent when considering how the previous DC films were received commercially.
The Flash earned approximately $271 million worldwide despite carrying a production budget reportedly around $200 million, becoming one of Warner Bros.’ most significant superhero disappointments.
Blue Beetle earned approximately $130 million worldwide.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods finished at approximately $134 million.
Zachary Levi as Shazam in Shazam! (2019), Warner Bros. Pictures
READ: Bob Iger Appears to Respond to Bob Chapek Allegations From Explosive Disney Memoir
Black Adam performed considerably better with approximately $393 million worldwide, but its substantial production and marketing expenses meant the film failed to launch the franchise Warner Bros. and star Dwayne Johnson appeared to envision.
These were not the movies Warner Bros. wanted to serve as benchmarks for the future of DC.
James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios was established amid Warner Bros. Discovery’s attempt to reset its superhero operation following years of inconsistent box office results.
Yet Supergirl’s first Nielsen numbers indicate the new DC Studios release didn’t even match the streaming consumption generated by several of the previous regime’s most prominent failures.
The Problem With Being No. 1 on HBO Max
None of this means reports that Supergirl was the No. 1 movie on HBO Max were inaccurate.
The movie did reach No. 1.
The problem comes from treating a platform ranking as though it were synonymous with audience size.
A movie ranking first on HBO Max means it is outperforming the other movies available on HBO Max during that period. It doesn’t reveal whether the movie was watched by two million people, five million people, or 20 million people.
Supergirl in Superman – HBO Max
That distinction became particularly important as Supergirl’s HBO Max performance began generating positive headlines following its theatrical collapse.
Before Nielsen released its numbers, there was little publicly available third-party audience data showing exactly how large the movie’s streaming audience actually was.
Nielsen has now provided the first significant independent measurement.
The result is 304 million minutes.
And rather than leading the broader streaming marketplace, Supergirl finished fifth among streaming movies.
Streaming Offered Supergirl a Second Chance
The HBO Max release was particularly important because Supergirl desperately needed a second act.
The film opened domestically with approximately $37 million before finishing its theatrical run with only around $126 million worldwide.
Jason Momoa as Lobo in a Supergirl ad – YouTube @dcofficial
READ: George Lucas Claims He Had Three More Star Wars To Make Before Retiring
That result came against a reported production budget of approximately $170 million, before accounting for marketing and distribution expenses. The movie ultimately finished almost $190 million short of its reported break-even estimate.
A massive HBO Max audience wouldn’t erase those theatrical losses, but it could have provided evidence that significant audience interest in Supergirl existed despite moviegoers declining to purchase tickets.
What Nielsen Tells Us About Supergirl
There are limitations to any streaming comparison.
Nielsen measures U.S. television viewing rather than every possible device or worldwide stream. Different movies can also arrive on streaming under different circumstances, after different theatrical windows, and amid different levels of competition.
Those caveats matter.
But Nielsen provides a consistent third-party measurement that allows considerably more meaningful comparisons than simply looking at a movie’s position on an individual streaming service’s internal chart.
And by that measurement, Supergirl’s debut was modest.
Supergirl using Heat Vision in the Supergirl trailer – YouTube, DC
The movie generated 304 million minutes.
It was beaten by a five-year-old Angelina Jolie movie, and its estimated complete-runtime consumption appears to have fallen significantly below The Flash, Blue Beetle, Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
That’s a much more complicated picture than the initial headlines celebrating Supergirl becoming HBO Max’s No. 1 movie.
The ranking itself was real. But now that Nielsen has provided some indication of the audience behind that ranking, DC Studios’ latest theatrical disappointment doesn’t appear to have experienced the massive streaming resurgence some of those headlines implied.
How do you feel about Supergirl and its performance on HBO Max? Sound off and let us know!
UP NEXT: Ed Sheeran Reportedly Loses Half a Million Social Media Followers After Macklemore Controversy
