Amazon’s $185 Million Streaming BOMB: Spy Series Citadel Fails to Hit Nielsen Rankings
Just over a month after Amazon debuted its pricey spy thriller series Citadel, the series STILL hasn’t cracked Nielsen’s top 10.
The new series — reportedly costing $185 million and starring Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden — has already been renewed for a second season by Amazon.
Still, the seven-episode series received mediocre reviews with a 54% rating on critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Nielsen’s streaming Top 10 for the week of May 8-14 was released Thursday (via Variety), marking the third week in a row, the show failed to crack the top 10.
May 8-14 is the show’s second full week of availability, though it debuted on April 28, with the first three days of availability recorded on the charts from April 24-30.
Not a top 10: Just over a month after Amazon debuted its pricey spy thriller series Citadel, the series STILL hasn’t cracked Nielsen’s top 10
Top 10: Nielsen’s streaming Top 10 for the week of May 8-14 was released Thursday (via Variety), marking the third week in a row that the show failed to make the top 10
Nielsen, when releasing the chart from April 24-30, noted that Citadel just missed the top 10 streaming originals chart, with 306 million minutes watched.
The 10th show on the streaming originals chart from April 24-30 was Netflix’s comedy special John Mulaney: Baby J, which racked up 379 million minutes of viewing.
The series failed to crack the Top 10 of the streaming originals for both the May 1-7 and May 8-14 charts.
That said, the show was expected to take a bit longer to crack the Top 10, as Amazon reportedly prioritized marketing the show in international markets.
Amazon announced in late May that the show is “enjoying breakthrough success in countries around the world, including India, Italy, Brazil, South Africa, the UK and the US.”
The streaming service also announced, “It is Prime Video’s second most-watched new original series outside the US, and the fourth most-watched worldwide.”
Amazon has already set up several spin-offs of the show for markets in India and Italy, though it is noted that Nielsen only counts viewing minutes in the US.
Still, the fact that Citadel failed to crack the Top 10 likely indicates that the show has essentially failed to connect with American audiences.
Missed: Nielsen, when releasing the chart from April 24-30, noted that Citadel just missed the top 10 streaming originals chart, with 306 million minutes watched
Failed: The series failed to crack the Top 10 streaming originals for both the May 1-7 and May 8-14 charts
Success: Amazon announced in late May that the show is “enjoying breakthrough success in countries around the world, including India, Italy, Brazil, South Africa, the UK and the US”
American: Still, the fact that Citadel failed to crack the Top 10 probably indicates that the show has essentially failed to connect with American audiences
Citadel follows an independent global spy agency that fell to Manticore agents eight years ago.
With the fall of Citadel, elite agents Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) had their memories wiped as they narrowly escaped with their lives.
Since then, they have remained hidden, building new lives under new identities, oblivious to their past. Until one night, Mason is tracked down by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick (Stanley Tucci), who desperately needs his help to prevent Manticore from establishing a new world order.
Mason searches for his former partner, Nadia, and the two spies embark on a mission that takes them across the globe in an attempt to stop Manticore as they grapple with a relationship built on secrets, lies, and a dangerous but immortal love. .