HBO’s scheduling decision to offer early views of the second episode of sci-fi series Westworld helped the episode draw a combined 2.7 million viewers, the network said Monday.
The pay service made the Westworld episode available Friday via HBO and HBO Now prior to last night’s linear debut, which was up against stiff competition from NBC’s Green Bay Packers-New York Giants National Football League live game telecast and multichannel coverage of the second presidential debate.
The episode drew 1.9 million viewers across two Sunday plays, and another 800,000 viewers on its streaming platforms, according to network officials. The Oct. 2 premiere episode of Westworld has thus far reached more than 6 million viewers via multiple linear plays and across multiple platforms, said the service.
HBO offered early digital plays for two freshman comedy series Divorce and Insecure. Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church tallied 1.1 million viewers – 723,000 viewers across two Sunday linear plays as well as 250,000 combined views on HBO Go and HBO Now. The Issa Rae-starrer Insecure drew a combined 1.1 million viewers for its premiere episode generated from 601,000 digital viewers through HBO GO, HBO NOW and HBO ON Demand over a two-week run, as well as 585,000 views from two Sunday night airings, said HBO.
