© Courtesy of HBO
Succession
The third season premiere of Succession featured the usual family backstabbing, colorfully expressed — and also the show’s biggest first-night audience ever.
The HBO series debuted to 1.4 million viewers across platforms on Sunday, a same-day high for the show. It beat the previous mark of 1.2 million for the second-season premiere in August 2019.
HBO says the increases for Succession — it was also up over both previous season finales and series premiere in 2018 — was driven largely by digital platforms and HBO Max in particular. The premiere had the best opening night performance of any HBO series since HBO Max launched in May 2020 (though as always, specific numbers are locked down in the WarnerMedia vaults).
The company notes that digital viewing more than tripled compared to the show’s season two premiere. HBO Max did not yet exist when Succession‘s second season bowed, so digital viewing took place on HBO Go and HBO Now.
Sunday’s audience will grow to several times its original size over the course of the season three run. Season two ended up drawing more than 5 million viewers per episode across platforms — a figure that, despite Succession’s trove of awards and critical acclaim, isn’t among HBO’s top performers in recent years.
Watchmen averaged about 7 million viewers per episode in 2019, and The Outsider pulled in 9 million per episode early last year. Season two of Big Little Lies averaged 10 million cross-platform viewers in 2019.
