While I have been enjoying season 2 of Fallout, the follow-up to the hit Amazon Prime Video series that has become one of TV’s best video game adaptations, I haven’t heard much discussion about it online. That’s made me wonder how viewership has been. The first estimates are in, and it turns out to be rather complicated. These stats are via the Nielsen charts.
- Fallout season 1 claimed the #1 spot on the Nielsen list when it debuted in 2024.
- Fallout just placed at #7 on the Nielsen list in the wake of its premiere.
- However, Fallout season 1 was released as a binge, with all episodes out at once.
- However, the Fallout season 2 numbers also include people rewatching season 1 before its release, which makes up about half the total.
What this does is make it hard to compare the two seasons directly, given these differing factors, though some estimates say that Fallout season 2 is underperforming season 1 by some amount. We just don’t know by how much, even with Nielsen “minutes viewed” numbers in. Sources tell Deadline that even if it’s lower, numbers did not “fall off a cliff.”
One more thing to note here is that when a show has explosive viewership, the streamer will usually announce it. Amazon has not commented on Fallout season 2’s debut viewership at all, but rather announced a new Fallout Shelter reality series instead.
This all feels a bit iffy, as you no doubt want your biggest series to increase in interest season over season. That has not happened with Rings of Power, for instance, which lost significant viewership between seasons 1 and 2. Still, it seems likely that Amazon will be committed to Fallout for some time.
Quality has not declined. Season 2 actually increased its critic Rotten Tomatoes score from a 93% to a 97% this season. Even with highly scrutinizing New Vegas fans, season 2 has a 96% audience score, just above the 94% of season 1. In other words, those who are watching really, really like this show, generally speaking.
Amazon made a whole lot of headlines this week with its other big-budget video game projects: the upcoming God of War series, which will star Ryan Hurst, and the first look at Sophie Turner as a classic-looking Lara Croft, which is about to start filming its first season imminently. Fallout has really given Amazon the confidence to press forward with these.
I think this season of Fallout is great, maybe even better than the first, and I am curious to see what the numbers do as time goes on, given how delayed these charts can be.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2026/01/16/how-fallout-season-2-viewership-compares-to-season-1-as-the-first-numbers-come-in/
