Is the most expensive series of the year a disastrous flop?

The first season of “Citadel” would have cost more than $ 250 million, many insiders even speak of a budget of more than $ 300 million. The cop action series with Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas is in any case the most expensive series of 2023 and even one of the most expensive series of all time. But it probably wasn’t a real success for Amazon Prime Video.

While the streaming service itself praised the project as a success and a second season and the Italian offshoot “Citadel: Diana” are already in the works, there are now doubts. The market research firm Nielsen studies how often movies, series and other programs are streamed in the US, independently of the information provided by the providers. Nielsen’s insight:

“Citadel” has never even made the top 10 most-streamed programs in the US in one week. Just looking at the original productions from the streaming services was enough for the top 10 in at least one week – but even then you were behind the rather cheaply produced Netflix reality show ‘Barbecue Showdown’. These are the devastating numbers of a disastrous flop.

Amazon: “‘Citadel’ takes time”…

However, you must make the caveat that Nielsen only examines US data, so there is no telling how successful or unsuccessful the very international series “Citadel” was in the rest of the world. Amazon explains that it is very successful in many countries. There is no data on this.

But the domestic US market is of course especially important for streaming providers. It is still the largest, where the expensive series should become a success. Amazon itself admitted the disappointment in the US.

Opposite Odetta Watkins, director of drama productions at the Amazon production company, said in June: that “Citadel” just “needs time” to grow with the audience. She is optimistic that as the franchise grows through more seasons and spin-offs, the numbers will rise in the US as well.

… but the boss seems impatient

So she asks for patience – but that’s exactly what her top boss doesn’t seem to have. An article in the news magazine is now causing a stir . Andy Jassy, ​​​​CEO of parent company Amazon, is on austerity course and is especially scrutinizing the Hollywood branch of his company. He asked for accurate compilations of the budgets of some of Amazon’s most expensive series. He wonders why the individual series such as “Citadel” but also “Dead Ringers”, “Periphery” and of course “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” have to cost so much … and sometimes bring in so little revenue.

In 2022 alone, Amazon would have invested $7 billion in its own streaming productions, only Netflix and Disney spent more. Some productions realized with it have probably flopped and it remains to be seen what steps will follow from Jassy’s analysis. It remains to be seen whether “Citadel” will also become a success in the US with the expansion of the franchise or whether the prestige project will be scrapped faster than it seems now.