It’s hard to deal with HBO’s ratings announcements these days. There are now two ratings: the measured ones on HBO and the streaming ones announced by HBO Max which are unmonitored. From latter stats, we can surmise that more people are watching HBO Max either on TVs or phones or computers than those who just watch HBO on cable.
So: the hard numbers show that “Succession” returned for its fourth and final season Sunday night to a number lower than its season 3 finale. That’s 598,000 this past Sunday vs. 634,000 in December 2021. That would be weird and disappointing.
However, HBO says including HBO Max and “other platforms” their total was 2.3 million, up 33% from the December 2021 numbers that included HBO Max and other platforms.
God bless, I say. Take the higher numbers even though we have no way of knowing bupkis about them. But the Nielsen rating is like the measurement in the music biz of CDs and paid downloads. It’s a hard, physical statistic. And that means that the Roys– I love them, I love the show, it should win all awards, etc — have a niche audience that more or less returned on Sunday. More will catch up during the week.
SPOILERS In this week’s episode, the kids out bid their father on a media property that will probably wreck them. Logan Roy is furious, but he knows he’ll be back to sweep up the trash later. Cousin Greg’s odd sex life invaded Logan’s lavish apartment, and it may be on tape. The big story was the incredible end sequence between Shiv and Roy, who want a divorce, don’t want it, love each other, are children who don’t know how to operate a relationship. It was heartbreaking work from Sarah Snook and Matthew MacFadyen.
And so we wait for next Sunday.
