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The second episode of “The Idol” saw a 12.37% drop in viewership when compared to the debut of the Sam Levinson-created series, which scored 913,000 viewers during last week’s Sunday launch.
An audience of 800,000 people across Max and linear HBO telecasts tuned in to watch the second episode of the HBO drama, which stars Lily-Rose Depp as rebounding pop star Jocelyn and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye as night club owner Tedros. According to Nielsen and first-party data, viewership remained steady on Max, while the HBO linear channel saw a decrease in viewing.
The debut episode is now tracking at 3.6 million viewers since its premiere, outpacing the premiere viewership for the first seasons of “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” at the same point in time, which brought in 3.3 million in 2019 and 3 million viewers in 2021, respectively.
According to Nielsen, viewers for “The Idol” are currently skewing 21 years younger on Max when compared to viewers on the HBO linear channel. In Latin America and Europe, “The Idol” is also currently experiencing higher viewing than the first seasons of “The White Lotus” and “Winning Time” when compared to the same period of time.
With only two episodes released of the five-episode Season 1 of “The Idol,” it remains to be seen whether the drama will reach comparable first-day figures to the first installment of “Euphoria,” which scored 1.1 million viewers for its series finale and 1.2 million viewers for the Season 1 finale.
For reference, the “Euphoria” Season 2 premiere drew 2.4 million same-day viewers and Season 2 finale brought in 6.6 million viewers in Feb. 2022.
Co-created and co-executive produced by Levinson, Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, the drama follows Jocelyn’s comeback journey after a nervous breakdown derailed her last tour. Amid pressure from her managers and creative team, who desperately try to salvage her public image, Jocelyn finds solace with Tedros, a shady figure who believes he can guide Jocelyn to her next big hit.
The cast for “The Idol” is rounded out by Dan Levy, Jennie Ruby Jane, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jane Adams, Moses Sumney, Troye Sivan, Rachel Sennott and Hari Nef, among others.
