Nielsen Data Confirms Lanterns Is the Fall’s Breakout DCU TV Hit

The useful part

Lanterns' Streaming Success Officially Confirmed by New Data, Beating Another DC Favorite. The show's approach to Green Lantern lore (as a True Detective -style police procedural) has resonated with a much wider audience than the DC comic book fandom. Still, despite all the pop-culture hype, the exact ratings for the show have been unclear… until now.

How it works

• Videos by ComicBook.com Ratings for Lanterns have been revealed, and the Nielsen data is looking very good for the show, HBO, and the DCU brand.
• Lanterns has the highest viewership of any DCU TV show, as well as the most streaming views of any TV Show.
• For comparison, DC Film News notes that The Penguin didn't even make it to the Top 10 on the Nielsen charts until the finale had aired and the entire show was already streaming on HBO Max.
• The hype that The Penguin's final episodes generated got viewers invested and helped boost the show's popularity (if late in the game) through word of mouth.
• Right now, genre-blends seem to be the formula that works, whether it's doing a Batman villain show as The Sopranos clone, or doing a Green Lantern show as a True Detective mystery.

What to take from it

It was still enough for the limited series to receive three Golden Globe nominations (one win) and a whopping 24 Primetime Emmy Award nominations (with six wins). Lanterns is only halfway through the season and is already eclipsing The Penguin's ratings. These kinds of ratings are also key to ensuring that Lanterns gets a Season 2 order, while DC Studios and HBO gain even more confidence in the TV side of the DCU brand.

Example or evidence

• Superman, Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), will be popping up to see John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) about the murder of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler).
• It's also been confirmed that Aaron Pierre's John Stewart will be appearing in the Superman sequel film, Man of Tomorrow.
• Marvel Has Just Given the DCU Its Biggest Opportunity Yet, And So Far They're Winning Tagged: DC Studios, DCU (Franchise), HBO, Lanterns Follow Us On Discover Add to Preferred Sources Next Article X-Men:
• Maybe he cloned himself using Zoe's machine, and sent that clone to jail – which gives him the alibi he needed to break Sinestro out.

Details worth keeping

Lanterns Is Setting New Ratings Records For DCU TV Shows NIelsen – DC Studios – HBO According to Nielsen ratings, Lanterns Episodes 1-4 generated 500 million viewing minutes, placing it in the Top 10 of all streaming content across any platform. Lanterns Is Doing More Than Ratings For the DCU DC Studios – Warner Bros. The real victory that Lanterns can achieve has nothing to do with ratings.

Related coverage

• Gizmodo: HBO Max's DC Studios series about Green Lantern Corps members Hal Jordan and John Stewart is gaining fans every week.
• Tvline: Lanterns is soaring high on HBO. Let's see how the series compares with all the other DC live-action television adaptations that have come and gone.
• Comicbook: The DCU's newest release, Lanterns, is proving to be incredibly popular, which is great news for the franchise that had a solid success with Superman (2025) but then, just a year later, experienced a...
• Fanbolt: 'Lanterns' episode 3 drew 10 million global viewers in 3 days on HBO Max. What that series high proves, and what it does not.
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