Fallout Season 2 streaming ratings may be down, but Bethesda and Amazon are probably still feeling pretty rad

We've been greatly enjoying Fallout Season 2 so far, and it seems that most fans are too, but the change from binge-based season drop to a weekly release schedule has had an impact on the show's ratings. Don't worry, though: this stumble isn't in danger of disappointing the powers that be.

On 15th January, The Hollywood Reporter shared the latest report from Nielsen, a leader in media valuation and data analytics. As expected, the debut of Fallout's second season was a sizable one, with the show accumulating 794 million viewing minutes through the week of December 15th through 21st. At the same time, it was well below Season 1's appeal, which earned 2.9 billion for its opening week in April 2024. That one was Amazon's best-ever premiere on the platform.

Those keeping track of what goes down on the TV front might've already noticed what's going on here. Since Nielsen traditionally tracks viewership in minutes watched across devices that send the needed data, the company's numbers never give us the complete picture. It only tracks TV sets, but it's always been a good way to measure the temperature and streaming habits of the populace. The more important bit of info here is that 794 million minutes for a single episode versus 2.9 billion for an entire season that could be binged on Day One is very impressive all the same.

Moreover, we must take into account many viewers who have grown accustomed to Netflix's binge release strategy are just waiting for the entire thing to be available. All in all, Fallout is doing remarkably well still, and nabbed the 7th spot on Nielsen's ranking for the December 15th through 21st period. During that week, Stranger Things reigned supreme in the lead-up to its series finale with a massive 2.37 billion minutes watched.

As it stands, Fallout Season 3 is a go and already targeting a production start date for 1st May, 2026. The Prime Video series is among the very few big-IP shows that are sticking to tight pre-production and filming schedules, with S2 arriving only a year and a half after S1. For comparison, we're still waiting for Star Wars: Ahsoka's second season on Disney Plus; the first set of episodes came out during summer 2023.

Are you watching each episode of Fallout Season 2 weekly, or are you waiting to make your trip to New Vegas until it's all loaded up?