The true power of “Power” lies in its streaming viewership: Season 5 of the 50 Cent-executive produced Starz drama just got 700,000 more streams on the Starz App than it did TV viewers. Re-read that sentence to let it sink in.
The return of “Power” drew 2.8 million streams from Sunday through Thursday. The Live + 3 Day Nielsen linear TV tally was 2.1 million total viewers.
Yes, the times are a-changin’, but there’s another important reason for the Starz App advantage: The premium cable television channel releases its shows on the app at midnight ET, while “Power” didn’t premiere on TV until 18 hours later, at 8/7c.
Still, the streaming numbers tell a success story. The opening episode to Season 5 saw a 115 percent increase in streams versus 2017’s Season 4 premiere day. And counting the aforementioned delayed activity, the Starz App experienced 84 percent more customers adds than during the same time period a year ago.
In total, “Power” Episode 501 was watched (anywhere) by 9 percent more people than 401. That’s a big win in 2018.
More boasts? Sure, we’ve got a few for Starz, like, a) The return of “Power” was the most-watched cable program on Sunday, and b) On social, it was the No. 1 primetime series across all of TV.