‘The Idol’ Episode 2 Reaches 800,000 Viewers, Down 12% From Series Premiere

Titled “Double Fantasy,” Episode 2 of “The Idol” brought in 800,000 viewers across HBO and Max on Sunday night.

This marks a 12% dip from the 913,000 viewers who tuned in to last week’s series premiere. Reported by Warner Bros. Discovery, these figures represent a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewing on HBO’s cable channel as well as WBD’s own data regarding streams on Max.

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According to WBD, streaming of the episode through Sunday night was “nearly even” with that of the week before, meaning that the decrease in viewership happened largely on cable. Nielsen data shows that approximately 232,000 viewers watched Episode 1 on cable the night of its premiere, meaning that some 681,000 viewers streamed the episode. Therefore, if streaming remained even for Episode 2, it can be estimated that around 119,000 viewers watched it on cable.

But in better news for the series, WBD also reports that Episode 1 has now reached 3.6 million after one week of delayed viewing on Max — outpacing the performances of the “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” series premieres in the same amount of time.

With 913,000 viewers, “The Idol” started off 17% behind the series premiere of “Euphoria,” which debuted to 1.1 million viewers in 2019, and 3% behind “The White Lotus,” which debuted to 944,000 viewers in 2021. But according to WBD, the premieres of “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” had increased to 3.3 million and 3 million, respectively, after their first full weeks of availability.

HBO series often owe nearly two-thirds of their viewership to streaming, and these statistics suggest that the streaming audience is even more essential here. Also of note is the age demographic tuning in on streaming: Per Nielsen, those streaming “The Idol” on Max are an average of 21 years younger than those watching on HBO, which represents a wider spread than that of most HBO dramas.

WBD also reported that in Latin America and Europe, “The Idol” viewership is higher than what “The White Lotus” and “Winning Time” achieved in the same amount of time, though exact figures were not provided.

“The Idol” is created by “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson alongside Reza Fahim and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, who stars alongside Lily-Rose Depp.

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