The Last of Us audience jumps 22% in week 2, an HBO record

The last of us Really resonates with audiences as it delivered the largest Week 2 viewership gains of any HBO original drama.

Episode 2 of the video game-based dystopian drama drew 5.7 million viewers across HBO and linear television shows in the United States this Sunday night. This 22 percent increase since the series debut marks the largest Week 2 viewership growth for any HBO original drama series in the network’s 50-year history.

The last of us premiered on January 15 with a total of 4.7 million viewers, making it the pay cabler’s second best-selling series launch since then Boardwalk Empire surpassed 7 million in September 2010.

But in the streaming/HBO Max age, Sunday night viewership for an HBO series typically accounts for only 20 to 40 percent of the total gross audience per episode. Indeed, after only one week of availability, The last of us’ Episode 1’s audience now stands at 18 million viewers – a nearly 400 percent increase from premiere night’s audience.

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