TV Ratings: ‘The Last of Us' Season 2 Finale Falls Short of Premiere
The season two finale of The Last of Us brought in a smaller first-night audience than either the season premiere in March or its first season finale in 2023.
The season finale drew 3.7 million viewers on HBO and Max on its first night, down from 5.3 million for the season premiere in April. It's also well short of the 8.2 million viewers for the close of the first season in February 2023.
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Some of the decline for the May 25 episode may be due to the fact that it debuted on the Memorial Day weekend, when viewing levels are typically lower than normal. HBO notes that the second season is averaging 37 million worldwide viewers across all platforms — 'worldwide' being the key word there. Season one drew 32 million cross-platform viewers in the U.S. alone (HBO measures viewing for its shows for 90 days after a season premiere); HBO hasn't released a U.S.-only figure for the current season.
Other ratings items:
• Fox Sports got a big turnout for its inaugural broadcast of the Indianapolis 500. The 109th edition of the race averaged 7.05 million viewers, the highest mark for the Indy 500 since 2008 (with the caveat that out of home viewing wasn't included in Nielsen's ratings until 2020). It was up 40 percent year to year (the 2024 race aired on NBC) and peaked with 8.4 million viewers from 4:15-4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Fox is in the first year of a rights deal with IndyCar, which previously had a longstanding relationship with NBC Sports.
• The seventh season premiere of The Chi delivered 2 million cross-platform viewers over its first seven days. Showtime says it was also the most streamed premiere in the show's history, narrowly beating out the season 6B opener in May 2024. The Chi has set premiere viewership records in each of its last three installments, a rarity for a show that has been around for as long as it has.
• The first American Music Awards since 2022 — and the first on CBS — posted improved numbers. Monday's show, hosted by Jennifer Lopez, averaged 4.86 million viewers, leading Memorial Day on broadcast networks and growing by 38 percent over the last AMAs telecast in November 2022 on ABC. The CBS telecast was up by 23 percent (0.63 rating to 0.78) in the key ad sales demographic of adults 18-49.
After seven days of linear viewing, the AMAs grew to 5.2 million viewers, its best mark since 2019. About 10 million people watched at least six minutes of the CBS broadcast or encores on MTV, CMT and BET.
The AMAs are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation, The Hollywood Reporter's parent company, in a subsidiary joint venture between Penske Media and Eldridge.
June 5, 9:30 a.m. Updated with additional ratings figures for the American Music Awards.
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