‘The Idol’ Falls Short of 1M Viewers for Premiere Night

Rick Porter
·2 min read
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The premiere of The Idol didn’t draw a huge audience for HBO Sunday — but it did fall in line with some other recent series debuts on the premium cable outlet.

The Idol, which courted controversy with provocative trailers and was met with mostly negative reviews, drew 913,000 viewers across HBO (for the premiere and three replays) and Max on Sunday — with the majority of that coming via streaming on Max. The on-air debut on HBO drew 232,000 people, a little over a quarter of the total for the night.

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The 913,000 viewers is a sizable step down from the first-night numbers for the final season of Succession, which immediately preceded The Idol in HBO’s 9 p.m. Sunday spot. It’s about level with a handful of other recent HBO drama debuts, however, including Winning Time (901,000 viewers) and season one of The White Lotus (944,000). Euphoria, from The Idol co-creator Sam Levinson, opened to 1.1 million viewers in 2019.

If recent patterns hold, The Idol’s audience will grow by several times over the course of the season (HBO measures season averages for 90 days after a show premieres). Winning Time ended up at 6 million viewers per episode for its first season, and Euphoria averaged 6.6 million. The White Lotus, which built throughout its run, closed its first season averaging 9.3 million viewers per episode.

The Idol stars Lily-Rose Depp as a pop star looking to mount a comeback and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye (who’s also a co-creator) as a nightclub owner who brings Depp’s character under his sway. Levinson, Tesfaye and Reza Fahim created the series, which underwent extensive recasting and reshoots midway through production (and also sparked reports of a chaotic environment on set, which HBO and the principals denied). Levinson, Tesfaye and Fahim executive produce with Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson, Joe Epstein, Aaron L. Gilbert for BRON, and Sara E. White.

June 6, 11:10 a.m. Update with linear ratings for The Idol premiere.

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