Succession season 2 premiere early ratings a true success story
Per Deadline, the first episode of the season on Sunday drew 1.2 million viewers from the network’s linear and digital platforms — that’s up 22% from the season 1 finale, which was just a sliver under a million. While this may not be so great of a gain that it causes HBO executives to proclaim that they’ve solved their post-Game of Thrones future, it seems like early assessments of this show’s future were correct.
Back in season 1, Succession was one of those ultimately “hey, this show is on?” programs — you probably didn’t hear about it unless one of your buddies told you about it or are a regular HBO viewer. It doesn’t boast a cast stuffed full of big names and the early assumption based on the trailer would just assume that it and Billions are the same exact show — that’s far from true. Billions is more about capital, hedge funds, stocks, and New York business stuff that stays away from mainstream media. Succession is more about a media empire and a family. Sure, both shows feature characters in suits/expensive dresses and plenty of swearing, and both air on premium cable. Those are the similarities — though another similarity we like to think of is that like Billions, Succession could have many years still in the tank.
The best thing that Succession may have going for at the moment is the mere fact that its ratings are still probably going in an upward direction. We don’t think enough viewers have been exposed to this show yet on the level that they will be five or six weeks from now … Succession just finds itself drifting at times in a sea of about a trillion different shows, including some big-ticket summer fare like Big Little Lies, Euphoria, and the upcoming final season of The Affair. There’s also another media-empire show on premium cable this summer in The Loudest Voice, and it has an easier hook since you’re talking about a real person in Roger Ailes.
Succession will find its way from the sea to the mainstream shores in due time … we’re anticipating it.
(Photo: HBO.)