A new report claims that Prime Video’s Reacher Season 2 has seen viewership massively increase compared to Season 1.
Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in Reacher (2023), Prime Video
Deadline’s Katie Campione claims the first three episodes of Reacher Season 2, which premiered on December 15th “surpassed the entire Season 1 audience by 50% in the first three days on the streamer.”
Campione also claims that the series is the best performing program “in terms of total viewers” on Prime Video for 2023.
It’s also the biggest premiere for a TV show since The Rings of Power released last last year. However, that show reportedly saw 63% of its initial audience fail to complete the series, a sign of its poor quality.
Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in Reacher (2023), Prime Video
According to Nielsen streaming data, the first season racked up 1.84 billion minutes viewed in the United States when all 8 episodes were first released back in February 2022. The first season was “one of the top five most watched original seasons ever on Prime Video in the U.S. and globally
Given that 1.84 billion number and Deadline’s reporting that the first three episodes had higher 50% higher viewership it means they likely racked up somewhere around 2.76 billion minutes viewed.
That would be a stunning success given the most watched program for the week of November 13th through 19th according to Nielsen was Netflix’s The Crown with total minutes viewed at just 943 million.
Nielsen Top 10 Overall Streaming Data for the week of November 13-19, 2023
The show will most definitely rack up even more minutes as it releases episodes every week moving forward for Season 2. Like the first season there will be eight episodes for Season 2.
Not only is the show seeing massive viewership compared to the first season, but viewers are reacting positively. On IMDb the first episode “ATM” has a user score of 8.4. The second episode, “What Happens in Atlantic City” has a user score of 8.4. Finally, the third episode “Picture Says a Thousand Words” has a score of 8.7.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a perfect 100% Tomatometer score from critics and an 83% audience score.
Reacher Season 2 Rotten Tomatoes score
Season 2’s success comes in the wake of Prime Video announcing a third season was renewed and production had already begun with the show’s lead actor Alan Ritchson announcing, “You’re on the set of Season 3 of Reacher right now. We’re officially under way.”
The second season of Reacher “begins when veteran military police investigator Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) receives a coded message that the members of his former U.S. Army unit, the 110th MP Special Investigations, are being mysteriously and brutally murdered one by one.”
The official description continues, “Pulled from his drifter lifestyle, Reacher reunites with three of his former teammates turned chosen family to investigate, including Frances Neagley (Maria Sten); Karla Dixon (Serinda Swan), a forensic accountant for whom Reacher has long had a soft spot; and fast-talking, switchblade-wielding family man David O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos).”
“Together, they begin to connect the dots in a mystery where the stakes get higher at every turn, and that brings about questions of who has betrayed them—and who will die next. Using his inimitable blend of smarts and size, Reacher will stop at nothing to uncover the truth and protect the members of his unit. If there’s one thing Reacher and his team know for certain, it’s that you do not mess with the Special Investigators. This season, get ready for Reacher and the 110th to hit back hard,” the description concludes.
Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in Reacher (2023), Prime Video
What do you make of Reacher’s Season 2 viewership exploding compared to its first season?
