Will ‘Westworld’ top its previous records in season 1 finale?
We envy people who are avoid TV watchers on Sunday night, largely because there’s a solid three great hours of programming alone between “The Walking Dead” and “Westworld.” If you’re having to debate which one to watch live and which to record, we have to imagine that the preferential treatment is going to go “Westworld’ just because it’s the last episode of the show’s run. Meanwhile, there are going to be some other opportunities to watch “The Walking Dead” over the course of the next several months — the winter finale airs next week, and beyond that, there is also the second part of the season beginning presumably in February.
Now, let’s make the assumption that many “Westworld” viewers are thinking the same thing, and even some who routinely DVR the show (or watch later on HBO GO / HBO NOW) decide that they are going to start watching live. What would this mean for the ratings?
As of right now, the threshold that the series would need to beat in order to establish a new ratings record is over 2.09 million viewers, or above a 1.0 in the 18-49 demographic. Both of these ratings are absolutely beatable, especially when you stop for a moment and consider the sheer number of people who are talking about the show. If it was only slightly more than two million people watching, then it’d be such that every single person watching the show was off blabbing about it incessantly. It is rather difficult to believe that this in fact the case.
If we were to make a ratings prediction right now, we would say that the show garners 2.2 million viewers and a 1.1 rating, which would mark a record, but not one so enormous that it throws any jaws onto the floor. Given the way the trajectory has gone when it comes to many other HBO shows over time, we anticipate that the true surge in the ratings will likely come during season 2, when people who’ve heard so much about the series receive a proper opportunity in order to watch it.
Before you do sit down and watch the finale of “Westworld” on Sunday, head over here to watch the promo one last time … just in case you still need to keep the anticipation going for whatever reason.