The Idol season 1 episode 1 ratings: How did it fare?
Now, it goes without saying that this series had a lot of attention leading up to its first episode, though not all of it was necessarily positive. After all, we are talking here about a show with fairly negative reviews and stories out there about it in advance. However, it did pack some serious star power with Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye featured as one of the two leads. Also, there was the curiosity that comes with Euphoria executive Sam Levinson behind the scenes.
So what did the show translate into when it comes to viewership? Let’s just say that the results here are a little bit mixed. According to a report from Deadline, the first episode drew around 913,000 viewers across linear and the Max streaming service last night, which puts it behind the 1.1 million who watched Euphoria when it premiered. Granted, that show had a stronger lead-in courtesy of Big Little Lies, but numbers still matter a great deal. The audience for The Idol is slightly stronger than the premiere of Winning Time, but down slightly versus what The White Lotus first drew when it premiered.
It goes without saying, this this episode was nowhere close to the numbers of some of HBO’s bigger shows like House of the Dragon or The Last of Us.
The biggest caveat
The vast majority of HBO / Max viewership comes in the days/weeks after an episode airs, so it’s not fair to judge anything based on just one installment. However, most of the other shows mentioned here have the benefit of better reviews. This is, in the end, going to be a test mostly in just how many people care about negative press — and also, whether or not controversy is a good thing.
Related – Get some of our thoughts all about the first episode of The Idol
What do you think about the ratings for The Idol series finale?
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(Photo: HBO.)