The long-anticipated release of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was two weeks ago. And since that time, people have been dying to see official numbers about the viewership of the HBO Max exclusive. However, much like other streaming services, WarnerMedia has been keeping mum about specific details of the launch. That has led fans to look elsewhere to figure out if the Snyder Cut has been a success for the streaming service. And the answer, from what can be gathered, is…well, complicated.
I have to preface this discussion with the warning that HBO Max doesn’t necessarily release data in the normal way. And for the most part, the streaming service doesn’t share any specifics unless the numbers are astronomical. So, for this purpose, we’ll have to look at a third-party data aggregator, Samba TV (via Twitter). Out of many third-party streaming research companies, Samba TV seems to have the most interesting data when it comes to the questions that people have the most regarding “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” But since these aren’t complete HBO Max numbers directly from WarnerMedia, none of this can be taken as gospel. Though, considering no official numbers have been released, this is the closest we’ll have.
According to Samba TV, which measures viewership based on households that watched at least 5 minutes of a program, 2.2 million households “watched” the Snyder cut in its first week of release. Now, remember, “watched” literally means that the connected devices that Samba TV tracks played at least 5 minutes of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” over the first week of release. For comparison’s sake, Samba TV says 3 million households “watched” Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman 1984” in the first week of release. So, at least there, the numbers are clearly strong for the Snyder Cut, but not record-breaking, by any means.
But perhaps the most telling number that Samba TV has released answers the question that many people seem to have—how many people actually watched all 4 hours of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League?” Remember, watching 5 minutes of something is a very loose definition of “view” when it comes to common sense. And when it comes to the number of people that actually sat through the entire Snyder Cut, Samba TV says that only 36% of US households watched the entire film during the first week of release. That would mean that roughly 800,000 households actually finished the film. And on average, Samba TV says US households only watched an average of 171 minutes of the 242-minute film.
So, back to the original question, does this mean the Snyder Cut is a success? WarnerMedia has to be happy with all the publicity and sign-ups the film actually is responsible for over that time. However, when it comes to the film itself, it doesn’t appear that “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was the dominant force that fans were hoping it would be. And perhaps most telling of all is how HBO Max and WarnerMedia haven’t been raving about viewership numbers since the film’s release. In this case, the silence is deafening.
