A few weeks ago, I had a long eye opening conversation with a smart 25 year old. He said that if his friends watched hit shows it wasn’t on cable. “No one I know has a cable subscription.” he said. All of this pals did their viewing either by sharing streaming accounts, or from You Tube, etc.
This is important to remember when looking at Sunday night’s ratings for the “Succession” and “Barry” series finales on HBO, that is, linear HBO.
“Succession” scored 896,000 viewers. “Barry” had only 234,000.
HBO says that their totals added 2 million people on Max on SmartTVs, phones, iPads, Roku, Apple TV or other devices.
If the 2 million number is right, that’s astounding. For decades, it was so important to have a “cable package” so you could watch “The Sopranos” or “Sex and the City.” Has the cord cutting really been that severe? Apparently so.
“The Succession” number on HBO is the highest its ever been, but never cracked 900,000. It was really a niche show. “Barry,” for all its accolades, is a disappointment. The season high was in its 4th episode, with 300,000 viewers. Sunday night’s show was about the same as its been the last three weeks. These numbers have to be frustrating for HBO. These are the highest quality TV shows, but once they find their audience, it’s finite.
