The season one finale of HBO’s The Last of Us drew 8.2 million viewers on Sunday, climbing to a new high for premiere-night viewing.
The numbers, for the drama’s ninth episode, include Nielsen totals for linear HBO and first-party data for streaming on HBO Max.
The Last of Us finale appeared opposite ABC's Oscars telecast, which drew 18.7 million viewers, per Nielsen.
The premiere of The Last of Us in January drew 4.7 million viewers and the audience has steadily risen. (The fifth episode premiered on a Friday to avoid a conflict with Super Bowl LVII. By that Sunday it had been seen by 11.6 million viewers.)
The first six episodes of the series are now averaging 30.4 million viewers, including delayed viewing on video-on-demand or streaming. The first episode is approaching 40 million viewers, HBO said.
HBO said The Last of Us is HBO Max’s most-watched show in both Europe and Latin America.
As a comparison, more than 9 million people tuned into the last episode of House of the Dragon, the prequel to HBO’s Game of Thrones. The Game of Thrones finale in 2019 drew 19.3 million viewers. ■
