‘Billions’ producing big benefits for Showtime through three episodes

Is Showtime already starting to get viewers fully aboard “Billions” in almost record time? This is what some of the latest numbers for the series are beginning to indicate.

To us, it was no shock at all that the live ratings from episode 1 to 2 increased, from 940,000 to around 950,000. The pilot episode of the show was available to fans in advance, so inevitable some people watched the pilot early and then came around live to see what was next. Here’s where things get surprising; per Entertainment Weekly, the second episode of the Paul Giamatti – Damian Lewis show surged up to a very-impressive 1.3 million. Sure, that’s far from a Showtime record, but this is the first season, and the show overall is averaging more than 6 million viewers a week across all measures.

What the network has now done that is so smart is diversify all of their viewing portfolios. You can purchase the network and its on-demand surfaces through a cable package, or as a standalone app similar to HBO NOW. Meanwhile, you can also add it to your package with either Hulu or Amazon, giving you further options as to how you can watch. This sort of diversity is only going to continue to help bring in revenue, while making their products available to the highest number of consumers.

It is somewhat surprising that the show has found such early success given that Wall St. isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but we do think that it benefits somewhat from being the only program of its kind on the air right, and it also boasts the aforementioned great cast (which also includes “Sons of Anarchy” alum Maggie Siff and Malin Akerman).

You can head over here now to view our most-recent “Billions” episode review; also, sign up here to acquire some further TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Showtime.)