The social media buzz has continued to rise for the drama series from Julian Fellowes, with Season 3 social conversation volume up 185% from last season and racking up double the number of engagements on the show’s social media posts, according to network data. Instagram and Facebook accounts surged by 188% season-over-season — twice the growth seen from Season 1 to Season 2. 

The social media growth for “The Gilded Age” goes hand-in-hand with its higher ratings, with new episodes reaching series viewership highs for five consecutive weeks. The season capped off with a series high of 5 million multiplatform viewers with the Season 3 finale — up 88% from the season premiere.

HBO went all out to “put the fandom in the drivers’ seat” and catapult the show into the cultural conversation, according to Mark Doumet, VP of originals marketing at HBO Max, taking a distinct approach from the previous two seasons and deploying all resources to lean into the escapist and glamorous nature of the 19th century drama.

“We tore up the playbook,” Doumet told TheWrap. “Instead of treating social media as a way to broadcast to fans, we built it as a space to co-create with them. We identified who the most passionate voices were — from super fans to creators to cultural institutions in New York to the cast. It was our job to give them access and give them a real stake in the storytelling online, so they can advocate on our behalf.”

As HBO shifted its goal from marketing “at” to marketing “with” the fandom, Doumet and his team identified what he calls the show’s “natural evangelists” — which include both content creators who were genuine fans of the show as well as super fans they had been aware of during the previous seasons — and gave them the “tools to spread their passion online.”

HBO partnered with gif companies Tenor and Giphy to make sure each episode’s biggest moments were immediately turned into gifs and memes for fans to engage with, and launched a series called “the weekly tea” that took the “funniest, sharpest fan takes” from X and superimposed them on clips of the episode. The launches created a “feedback loop,” Doumet said, since “fans knew we were watching them, so that kept them posting more.”

Fans were rewarded for their participation with the official social media accounts amplifying their content, as well as swag giveaways, including “Hot Gilded Summer” hats, which have already inspired some Etsy copycats. “Giving them a hat is acknowledgement … it’s like you’re part of the family,” Doumet said. “We want to help you out, just like you’re helping us out.”

Content creators also scored invitations to events throughout the season’s rollout, including an event at the Frick Collection in New York City tied to Episode 4, a Newport-based event for Episode 6 and a finale celebration at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival.

The standout event of the season was date night at the Frick, which brought together roughly 100 content creators — from reality stars Dorinda Medley and Stassi Schroeder to the creators behind beloved New York account Meet Cutes NYC — for an advanced screening of Season 3’s splashy fourth episode, which featured the reluctant nuptials of fan-favorite character Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) to Hector Vere, 5th Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb).

The party, which embraced the Frick’s romantic and glamorous atmosphere, created what Doumet called a “content generation factory,” resulting in an estimated 460 organic pieces of content celebrating “The Gilded Age.” Doumet compared the event to the equivalent of a press junket for content creators, noting that the marketing and media relations teams think broadly about the reach of platforms, whether it’s a press outlet or creator channel.

“It gave creators the perfect backdrop to make their own content with other creators,” Doumet said. “We didn’t script them. We just gave them access to our talent. We gave them a pre-air screening of Episode 4 … We gave them Christine Baranski, Morgan Spector.”

Most importantly to the HBO team, the content felt authentic and rooted in love for the show. “We don’t love the pay to play — we want to find where there’s that organic fit,” Doumet said, noting that Medley reached out to attend the event because she’s a fan of the show and pointing to Schroeder’s “fangirling” during her private tour of the Frick with Baranski and Cynthia Nixon.

It wasn’t just fans who were active on social media, with much of the cast posting behind-the-scenes photos from production in reaction to the episodes. Doumet and his team worked closely with production to bank content that talent could roll out every Sunday, which helped audiences feel like they were watching with the talent.

“It was unguarded moments, showing their relationship with each other … that’s how we want people to think about the show,” Doumet said. “It really enforces that idea that everyone is having a great time, on set but also while watching.”

The team had early conversations with talent running through the show’s marketing strategy, which included the cast as co-marketers as well. “It’s 2025 —everyone is a marketer. Everyone has a phone in their pocket,” he said.

“Our job … is really just empowering the voices who are our best advocates, whether or not that’s creators, it’s super fans online, or it’s the talent,” Doumet said. “We just want to give them the tools, give them our platforms so that they can spread the word of mouth, because that’s what truly creates FOMO.”

“The Gilded Age” Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on HBO Max.

The post How HBO’s Social Media Blitz Catapulted ‘The Gilded Age’ Finale to a Series High | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.

Up until two months ago, the show was slated to premiere on Starz before making an unexpected switch to Netflix — and the move certainly paid off. The Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman-led series debuted as the streamer’s third most-watched TV title with 5.2 million views the week of July 21 and grew in its second week to 5.8 million views, coming second only to the Eric Bana-led hit “Untamed.”

The impressive viewership for “The Hunting Wives” — coupled with its undeniable touch on pop culture — marks a big win for Lionsgate TV Group Chair and Chief Creative Officer Kevin Beggs, who first saw the potential in the show from writer-showrunner Rebecca Cutter.

“We always felt that if viewers found it, it could break out,” Beggs told TheWrap. “When you have a platform as big as Netflix … that gives you every chance to succeed. That’s what every producer and supplier like us dreams about.”

“The Hunting Wives” was greenlit to series by Starz in October 2023, fitting into the network’s female-centric titles like “Three Women” and “Outlander.” But the separation of Lionsgate and Starz, which was approved by shareholders in April, prompted Beggs and the Lionsgate TV team to think about where the series could best thrive. (It’s also been reported that Lionsgate TV was envisioning a multi-season run for “The Hunting Wives,” while Starz planned it as a limited series.)

When it came time for Lionsgate TV to express interest in buying back the rights to “The Hunting Wives” to then sell to Netflix, Beggs said the discussion between both parties was “amicable.”

“Everybody collaborated very creatively and in the spirit of partnership that we always had, from the first day that we came together as a company to the last day that we were together and now standing alone,” Beggs said. “I think the outcome has worked out well for everyone.”

The ink was dry by early June, just a month and a half ahead of the July 21 debut on Netflix, giving the Lionsgate TV team only a few weeks to grow awareness for the show’s new streaming home. This lead to what Beggs calls a “guerrilla marketing campaign” from the studio’s marketing and publicity teams to promote “The Hunting Wives,” which included leveraging social media influencers and a push on Lionsgate’s YouTube, FAST and AVOD channels.

That sort of push from the studio side is unusual, as networks/streamers tend to direct promotion while studios provide complementary support, but the limited-time frame situation called for a unique solution.

“We felt that it was important that we dive in,” Beggs said.

Beggs said Netflix also “jumped on in a huge way” post-release, adding a splashy billboard on Sunset Boulevard to bring awareness to the show. “They’ve been amplifying, complementing and reinforcing the message,” Beggs said.

The grass-roots campaign, paired with much word-of-mouth from fans, boosted “The Hunting Wives” to the top of Netflix’s charts, and has left audiences wanting more.

“There’s a lot of adjectives thrown around about shows that break out, but sometimes, a noisy, wildly commercial, and a little dose of shock and awe thrown in in the middle of summer — I call it kind of a visual beach read — is very well timed,” Beggs said. “There was a reason that there was a competitive bidding to get it.”

After the Season 1 finale, finishing with a cliffhanger that sets up a new dynamic between Sophie (Snow) and Margo (Akerman), Beggs said Lionsgate TV and Netflix are “having discussions about a second season,” but remained tight-lipped about any other details regarding those conversations.

The win for “The Hunting Wives” comes just weeks after a successful Emmy nomination morning for Lionsgate TV’s “The Studio,” which scored 23 nods for Apple TV+, breaking the record for most comedy nominations in a single year and becoming the most-nominated freshman comedy. (Apple has not released viewership data for “The Studio” to date, and it did not appear on the Nielsen streaming charts during its first season.)

The critical acclaim for “The Studio” marks a different type of success than the commercial popularity of “The Hunting Wives,” but Beggs still underscored the cost-benefit analysis he and his team employ when looking for a home for their shows. “On a giant platform, you have to have a giant number to be relevant, and on a smaller platform, your big splash is more meaningful,” he said.

The common tie between “The Hunting Wives” and “The Studio” for Beggs is that they’re both “noisy and lean-forward television,” with the “compelling and propulsive murder mystery” in “The Hunting Wives” feeling just as addictive as the splashy shenanigans and cameos in “The Studio.” Series, he said, “have to have some compelling must-watch [factor] now … or they’re easily lost in a sea of shows.”

The post ‘The Hunting Wives’: Lionsgate’s Kevin Beggs Spills on the ‘Guerrilla Marketing Campaign’ That Propelled the Buzzy Hit | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.

First off, let’s get “Squid Game” out of the way. Season 3 is undeniably the biggest hit of the summer — streaming or otherwise — logging 60.1 million views in its first three days on Netflix, more than any other show has secured in that timeframe. The season has tallied up 134.7 million views to date, rivaling the all-time viewership for “Adolescence,” which stands at 142.6 million, and “Stranger Things 4,” at 140.7 million.

Coming second to “Squid Game” on Nielsen’s streaming charts, Peacock’s “Love Island USA” boasted a record-breaking audience in Season 7 after last year’s installment caught the attention of reality lovers across the board. “Love Island” was the No. 2 most-watched streaming program for the weeks of June 23 and June 30 with 1.78 billion and 1.7 billion viewing minutes, respectively.

Viewing of the show has steadily grown from 1.1 billion viewing minutes the week of June 9.

Also making a strong return was “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” which scored 25 million viewers globally in its first week on Prime Video with the drop of its first two episodes on July 16, according to internal data provided to press. The third and final season of the YA series is already outpacing its previous seasons, soaring over Season 2 by 40% and tripling from Season 1 within the same timeframe.

Prime Video also saw some streaming success with YA adaptation “We Were Liars,” which made it into Nielsen’s top 10 streaming originals list for the first three weeks since its June 18 release, so far peaking during the week of June 23 with 420 million viewing minutes.

Similarly, HBO’s “The Gilded Age” has been on a hot streak this summer as it scored viewership series highs for three consecutive weeks, with Episode 6 scoring 4.5 million viewers across HBO and Max in its first three days. The drama series, which has already been renewed for a fourth season, is now tracking 25% higher than Season 2, with each episode this season seeing week-over-week audience growth.

The Eric Bana-led “Untamed” also made a strong debut as Netflix’s top TV show for the week of July 14 with 24.6 million views, which grew to 26.1 million views in its second week.

And a surprise hit this week has been “The Hunting Wives,” the racy Texas-set drama series which made a last-minute shift from Starz to Netflix. The eight-episode series scored 5.2 million views on Netflix on its first week, becoming the No. 3 most-watched TV series behind “Untamed” and “Amy Bradley Is Missing,” and looks likely to keep growing into next week.

While the summer translates to slower months for broadcast, unscripted series are main attraction for broadcast networks and seem to keep audiences occupied just fine. “America’s Got Talent,” which ranks as the No. 1 summer broadcast show, is averaging 4.7 million viewers to date on NBC while “Celebrity Family Feud” scored 4.16 million viewers on ABC for its premiere, dipping to 3.84 million viewers and 3.78 million viewers, respectively, in the following weeks.

After premiering its 27th season on July 10, “Big Brother” has reached nearly 26 million viewers across CBS and Paramount+, with multiplatform viewership for the first two weeks averaging 4.8 million viewers season-to-date, up 9% from last summer’s first two weeks. Overall, “Big Brother” ranks as the No. 2 summer broadcast show.

ABC’s “Bachelor in Paradise” debuted to 3.73 million viewers after seven days of viewing across ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms, and the dating show has consistently been the top linear program of Monday night among adults 18-49.

Hallmark’s “Christmas in July” special soars

Hallmark annual “Christmas in July” special boosted the channel to rank as the No. 1 most-watched entertainment cable network on weekends throughout July among key demographics, including households, total viewers, women 18+ and viewers 18+ in primetime, and among households and women 18+ in total day. Overall, “Christmas in July” programming reached 12.6 million total viewers.

Additionally, the network’s four new original movie premieres ranked as the top entertainment cable each Saturday during “Christmas in July.”

WNBA keeps growing

Demand for the WNBA just keeps growing, with the July 27 matchup between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky scoring 1.5 million viewers, up 17% from last year’s regular season average on ABC. The game ranks as the No. 6 most-watched regular-season game on ABC ever as well as the No. 4 most-watched regular season game on ABC this season.

Cable News Sees Year-Over-Year Decrease, But Fox News Still Leads the Way

Cable news saw a double-digit decrease in viewership across the board when compared to last July. MSNBC saw the smallest decrease, down 27% year-over-year to reach an average 865,000 total viewers in July, while CNN fell 43% to reach 497,000 viewers and Fox News was down 30% to 2.41 million total viewers.

The year-over-year decreases for July were higher for the key 25-54 demographic, with Fox News down 48% (257,000 demo viewers), CNN down 55% (92,000) and MSNBC down 40% (81,000).

Still, Fox News scored enough total viewers in primetime to outpace the average primetime viewership of the broadcast networks (which are experiencing slower months without scripted series and fall sports) with NBC averaging 2.1 million viewers while CBS and ABC both brought in an average 2 million viewers, respectively.

The post Summer TV Ratings: ‘Love Island USA,’ ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ and ‘Untamed’ Stir Up Strong Streaming Numbers appeared first on TheWrap.

With Colbert’s announcement breaking in the afternoon after the show’s taping but before it aired, the Thursday broadcast scored the biggest audience of the week with 2.32 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures, a 35% jump over the previous night. And Monday’s episode, which featured a rare appearance from all the other late night hosts in solidarity, kicked off the week with 2.41 million viewers, up 25.5% from the previous Monday.

Additionally, delayed viewing across three days boosted Thursday’s telecast to 3.08 million viewers, a 33% lift from the live-plus-same-day figures. The three-day viewership for Thursday’s telecast outpaced the 2.18 million viewers averaged by Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s episodes by 41%.

And it wasn’t just “The Late Show” that saw a spike in viewers Thursday, as late night fans tuned in for a temp check with Colbert’s peers. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” also had their most-watched episodes of the week that night.

“The Tonight Show” brought in 1.03 million viewers, up 4% from Wednesday’s broadcast and up 5% from the week’s previous average viewership of 978,000. Likewise, “Late Night With Seth Meyers” scored 754,000 viewers, up 7% from Wednesday and up 9% from the 691,000 averaged earlier in the week.

Perhaps most eyes were on fellow Paramount late night host Jon Stewart, who has been outspoken about the possibility of also getting the ax after the Paramount-Skydance deal goes through. “The Daily Show” averaged 592,000 viewers on Thursday and Monday, July 21, when Stewart returned for his weekly gig, up from the 489,000 viewers averaged from last week’s telecasts Monday through Wednesday.

While “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” has been helmed by guest hosts while Kimmel goes on his annual summer break, the ABC late night show delivered an average 1.095 million viewers on Thursday and Monday, up 14% over the first three days last week.

Even Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” got a boost. The Greg Gutfeld-hosted show, which airs within primetime at 10 p.m. on Fox News, averaged 3 million viewers on Thursday and Monday, up 8% from the average viewership of 2.78 million brought in on the previous Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

All the late night shows have struggled with declining viewership over recent years, along with the rest of linear TV.

CBS executives say letting Colbert go at the end his existing contract and canceling “The Late Show” entirely was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.” But the news came days after Colbert called Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump a “big fat bribe” to ensure the FCC approves the media giant’s upcoming merger with Skydance Media, prompting speculation the decision was politically motivated.

WNBA All-Star events boost ESPN, ABC and Disney+ to ratings wins

The WNBA all-star events scored ratings milestones for ESPN, ABC and Disney+, starting with the skills challenge and 3-point contest on July 18, which boosted ESPN to score the biggest audience on record for the event. The telecast brought in 1.3 million average viewers — up 89% from last year — and marked the most-viewed program across all of primetime TV on Friday among adults under 35, adults 18-34 and women 18-34. The trend continued on Saturday, when the 2025 WNBA all-star game became the No. 2 most-watched WNBA all-star game ever, behind 2024.

While viewership was down from a year ago, the 2025 game scored 2.2 million viewers, up a whopping 158% from 2023.

The ratings wins come as ESPN celebrates year-over-year ratings growth for its first six months of the year. The network scored its best average primetime audience since 2014, with the network averaging 1.9 million viewers during the 183 nights of the year.

“Blindspot” is the next Netflix effect winner

While “Blindspot” hasn’t been in the cultural zeitgeist much since ending its run on NBC in 2o20, the thriller’s arrival on Netflix in early June sparked newfound interest among viewers. The series, starring Jaimie Alexander, ranked second on Nielsen’s overall viewing list during the week of June 9 with a whopping 1.87 billion viewing minutes. It sustained that momentum the following week and became the most-watched streaming program with 1.8 billion viewing minutes.

“Dexter: Resurrection” scores Showtime’s biggest premiere streaming audience yet

The latest iteration of the “Dexter” universe got off to a killer start for Showtime, with “Dexter: Resurrection” bringing in the biggest streaming audience for a premiere in Showtime history, up 44% from “Dexter: Original Sin” and 79% from “Dexter: New Blood.”

The premiere episode scored 3.1 million cross-platform viewers — up 46% from “Dexter: Original Sin” — and even drove viewership to the “Dexter” franchise, with viewership for the flagship series and its spinoffs up 132% since the “Dexter: Resurrection” premiere.

The post Colbert’s Abrupt Cancellation Sparks Late Night Ratings Surge Across the Board appeared first on TheWrap.

“The White Lotus,” with 24 nominations, was the most-watched drama nominee so far this year, ranking as the No. 16 most-watched streaming program with 11.46 billion minutes viewed, according to Nielsen.

“Severance,” “The Pitt” and “Andor” also made strong showings on the top 20 streaming original series list. “Severance” leads the pack in the No. 5 slot with 9.28 billion viewing minutes, followed by “The Pitt” (No. 7, 8.23 billion) and “Andor” (No. 14, 5.68 billion). Fellow drama nominees “The Diplomat” and “Slow Horses” premiered in fall 2024, but the former spent four weeks on Netflix’s top 10 English-language series list.

Notably, “Squid Game” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which were snubbed in the major drama categories after receiving significant nods in the past, both made a strong showing on the streaming lists. “Squid Game,” which released its second season in late December, was the No. 9 overall streaming program and No. 1 streaming original series with 15.07 billion viewing minutes, while “The Handmaid’s Tale” came just behind “The Pitt” with 8.23 billion.

Things get a little murkier when it comes to the limited series and comedy categories, with most series not reflected on the streaming list, especially those that premiered in 2024. Three of the five nominated limited series came from Netflix, “Adolescence,” Black Mirror” and “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” — along with FX’s “Dying for Sex” and HBO’s “The Penguin.”

“Adolescence” quickly joined the ranks of Netflix’s most-watched English-language TV shows, currently sitting in the No. 2 slot (behind “Wednesday”) with 142.6 million views to date. While Ryan Murphy’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is on Netflix’s most-watched list, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” hasn’t quite made it there, having spent seven weeks on Netflix’s weekly top 10 list. “Black Mirror” Season 7 spent five weeks on the top 10 list.

Nominees in the comedy category are similarly difficult to rank, ratings-wise, given limited viewership data for FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows” and Apple TV+’s “Shrinking” and “The Studio.” “Nobody Wants This” was an undeniable hit for Netflix, as the romcom was in the top 10 English-language TV series list for six weeks.

Returning nominees “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Hacks” and “Only Murders in the Building” all seem to have relatively comparable viewership to their previous seasons, with “Abbott Elementary” — the only broadcast show in the main nomination categories — closing out the 2024-25 TV season with an average 8.67 million viewers across linear and streaming, according to Nielsen live-plus-35-day viewing data. Per Nielsen streaming numbers, “The Bear” scored 1.2 billion viewing minutes during the week of June 24, 2024, when Season 3 dropped in full.

Likewise, the Season 4 premiere episode of “Only Murders in the Building” debuted to 460 million viewing minutes, per Nielsen, while “Hacks” did not appear on any of Nielsen’s streaming charts during the entirety of its Season 4 rollout.

Confused about the lack of viewership transparency in the era of streaming? Us too.

MLB All-Star Game scores biggest Fox audience since the Super Bowl

The 95th MLB All-Star Game cemented its status as the most-watched all-star event in sports, bringing in 7.2 million viewers across Fox and Fox Sports streaming services, with viewership peaking at 8.1 million from 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, according to Nielsen. The game ranked as the most-watched telecast on Fox since Super Bowl Sunday, which scored a record 127.7 million viewers back in February.

Netflix KOs 2025’s biggest women’s sports audience with Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor 

While the Netflix-hosted boxing match between Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor on July 11 brought insubstantially fewer viewers than last year’s Mike Tyson-Jake Paul bout (which drew an average-minute audience of 108 million viewers from the opening to closing bell), the main event still made some noise with an estimated AMA of nearly 6 million global viewers, and an AMA of 4.2 million viewers in the U.S., according to VideoAmp and Netflix. That ranks as the year’s most-watched professional women’s sports event, per Netflix. 

“Big Brother” kicks off Season 27 to ratings growth 

“Big Brother” debuted the first two episodes of its 27th season to double-digit percentage growth and impressive streaming numbers. The premiere on July 10 scored 2.99 million viewers — up 10% and 29% from last summer’s part 1 and part 2 premieres, according to Nielsen, while the first Sunday episode on July 13 scored 2.56 million viewers, up 12$%. The Paramount+ live stream was up 28% from last year’s Sunday premiere.

The post Emmy Nominee Ratings: ‘The White Lotus’ Tops the Drama Contenders appeared first on TheWrap.

“Squid Game” Season 3, which debuted June 27, immediately broke viewership records for Netflix as it logged 60.1 million views in its first three days on the streamer — more views than any other Netflix series has secured in that timeframe — and made history as the only series to debut at No. 1 in all 93 countries that Netflix tracks during its premiere week.

While Season 3’s viewership in its first three days was enough to push it into the top 10 most popular non-English-language series, “Squid Game” Season 3 tacked on another 46.3 million views in its second week to total 106.3 million global views across its first two weeks, boosting Season 3 to rank as the No. 3 most-watched non-English-language series on Netflix ever, behind “Squid Game” Seasons 1 and 2.

Whereas some breakout series deliver diminishing returns as they reach subsequent seasons, “Squid Game” Season 3 debuted to a viewership comparable to Season 2, which debuted to 68 million views in its first four days. (Season 2 was released on a Thursday while Season 3 was released on a Friday.) Season 2 still has a lead on Season 3, however, having logged 126.2 million views within its first two weeks, though it should be noted that Season 2’s holiday debut — it premiered on Dec. 26 — certainly boosted those numbers.

While Netflix separates its viewership charts into English-language and non-English-language TV lists, “Squid Game” is even bigger than English-language hits like “Wednesday,” “Stranger Things” and “Bridgerton.” In fact, “Squid Game” Season 1, which has 265.2 million views to date, outpaces “Wednesday” (the most-watched English-language series), which holds 252.1 million views. (That standing could potentially change soon as viewers catch up on “Wednesday” ahead of Season 2’s two-part release in August and September.)

Similarly, “Squid Game” Season 2, which currently stands at 192.6 million views as the No. 2 most-watched non-English-language series, outpaces “Adolescence,” which is the No. 2 English-language series with 142.6 million views.

In just two weeks, “Squid Game” Season 3 surpassed current viewership numbers for “Bridgerton” Season 3, which debuted over a year ago, as well as “The Night Agent,” which was the most-watched English-language series during the first six months of 2023. Notably, “Squid Game” Season 3 is tracking well past “Stranger Things 3,” which stands at 94.8 million views since its 2019 release.

The release of “Squid Game” Season 3, which debuted just six months after Season 2 premiered, also boosted viewership for its previous installments, with Seasons 1 and 2 logging 1.7 and 2.8 million views, respectively, during Season 3’s premiere week. The trend only grew into Season 3’s second week, with Season 1 gaining another 3.8 million views while Season 2 scored another 4.9 million views. Other Korean content also scored viewership wins during Season 3’s release, with “KPop Demon Hunters” ranking as the top English-language movie during Season 3’s debut week and continuing to rake in the views as Netflix flexes its domination in the Korean content space.

In short, “Squid Game” is bigger than almost anything else on Netflix, and while Season 3 marked the end of the flagship series, no doubt the streamer is looking for ways to extend the life of this phenomenon. At least we know creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is game for a spinoff.

ESPN sees double-digit percentage gains for F1 British Grand Prix

Sunday’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix brought in 1.5 million viewers on ESPN2, with viewership peaking at 1.8 million between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. ET as Lando Norris claimed victory. Viewership for the race was up 19% compared to last year, which averaged 1.3 million viewers, and marked the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television, according to Nielsen.

The British GP was just one of the races seeing viewership growth this year, with F1 races averaging 1.3 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC — up 7% over the 2024 season to date and 17% over the full 2024 season average. Viewership is also up in the demo, with races averaging 511,000 viewers among adults 18-49 — up 14% over the 2024 season to date average and 24% over the full 2024 season average. 

The races, of course, come as Apple just released its highly anticipated “F1” movie starring Brad Pitt in theaters, which is off to a solid start at the box office.

Fox scores 2nd most-watched MLB game

Fox’s two-game MLB slate on Saturday, which saw the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, brought in 2.51 million viewers on Fox, marking the network’s second-most-watched MLB game this season. That’s up 34% over the 1.88 million viewers on average brought in by last year’s MLB telecasts on Fox. Fox’s Saturday baseball is having its best season (through the first weekend of July) since 2021.

NewsNation bolsters annual audience

Cable news network NewsNation is posting significant gains for its primetime and full-day viewership when compared to last year.

During the week of June 30, NewsNation averaged 112,000 primetime viewers and 63,000 total-day viewers — up 27% and 47%, respectively, when compared to the week of July 1, 2024. In the 25-54 demo, NewsNation averaged 14,000 primetime viewers and 12,000 total-day viewers, up 8% and 71% from last year.

The post ‘Squid Game’ Ratings Dominate: Season 3 of Netflix’s Hit Series Is Even Bigger Than You Think appeared first on TheWrap.

While “Love Island USA” gained traction throughout last year’s buzzy Season 6 — leading to collaborations with Coffeemate and Pizza Hut by the show’s reunion — Season 7 started off with strong viewership, ranking as the No. 2 most-watched streaming original program and No. 1 most-watched streaming reality series for the second consecutive week during the week of June 9, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen.

The show, which airs every day except Wednesdays on Peacock, has bolstered its partnerships this season to a level that more closely resembles drama series like “Bridgerton” or “Squid Game.” Those partners range from Spotify — whose “Love Island USA” playlist has garnered over 100,000 saves — to Instacart, marking the highest interest Peacock has received with over 14 sponsors selling out integrated in-show partnerships, according to the streamer.

“Love Island USA” Season 7 partnerships have led to a 137% increase in fans’ likelihood to have talked about products featured on the show, and a 66% increase in fans’ likelihood to have purchased products from brands seen on the show, per Peacock data.

“Fans are coming to watch this show every day, and they’re really building community and connecting in real time,” Peacock’s VP of enterprise and marketing partnerships Lindsay Vogelman told TheWrap. “We’re trying to drive the fandom, give the fans something that they naturally would want, and go beyond what money could buy, almost, in this special way.”

The most memorable collaboration of the season by far was with Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” swimwear line, which saw the rapper appear on Episode 15 to chat with the female islanders and introduce her new bathing suits before hosting a twerking competition and introducing two new bombshells to the villa.

Vogelman and her team were looking for a swimwear partner, and with the rapper already being a fan of the show and gearing up to launch her new line, it was a “serendipitous” partnership, the exec said. The swimwear was made available on Peacock’s online “Love Island USA” shop, and an on-screen QR code leading to the shop saw a 25% increase in scan rate compared to the season’s average scan rate for other products featured so far this season.

“We were able to extend this beyond just a product integration,” Vogelman said. “Those are great, but how do we make this just truly about the fans and giving them something they want?”

Megan Thee Stallion wasn’t the only “Love Island USA” partner to enter the Fiji villa. Duolingo mascot, Duo the Owl, also made a grand entrance earlier this season for a “Meet the Islander” introduction video alongside a range of custom content.

After collaborating with Duolingo in 2023 for an April Fools prank surrounding a language difference-based dating show ad, Vogelman said a partnership for Season 7 seemed fitting and pointed to increased social traction for the collaboration, which has scored 4.7 million views on Instagram as of this writing.

For Vogelman, the most attractive partnerships for “Love Island USA” are those with “fun” and “playful” brand identities like Duolingo, Instacart and Spotify, which can engage with the show’s younger audience — the majority of the show’s viewers are under 30 — while crafting a seamless shopping experience, like heading to Instacart to get groceries delivered as fans watch, or jumping to Spotify to find the tunes used in the latest episode. Other partners this season include CeraVe, Coffeemate, Cuervo, Hellmann’s, Liquid I.V., Maybelline New York, Motorola, Pepsi Zero Sugar Wild Cherry, TheraBreath, Universal Pictures and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN 2.0” and Wells Fargo.

Peacock also brought back Season 6 winners Serena Page and Kordell Beckham for a CeraVe ad, which works hand-in-hand to promote spinoff series “Love Island: Beyond the Villa,” which will follow Season 6 islanders as they head to Los Angeles when it launches on July 13.

Due to the natural conversation surrounding “Love Island USA’s” constant twists and turns, Vogelman said the show lends itself more to brand partnerships than some other NBCUniversal properties, pointing to popular reality competition series “The Traitors” as another buzzy series that works well for such tie-ins.

“This is such coveted content, and we’re very protective of it because we want to really maintain the authenticity that we’ve created,” Vogelman said, adding that the goal is to “build on the natural, authentic relationships with these brands in order to just give the fans more of what they want.”

“Love Island USA” releases new episodes every day except Wednesdays on Peacock. The Season 7 finale is set for July 13.

The post How Peacock Hopes to Spin ‘Love Island USA’ Audience Into Brand-Partnership Gold appeared first on TheWrap.

While it’s too early to predict how the series might perform across the coming weeks, premiere numbers for “The Waterfront,” which scored 8.3 million views in first four days on Netflix, are comparable to Western drama series “Ransom Canyon,” which received a Season 2 renewal from the streamer this week.

Debuting in April, “Ransom Canyon” logged 7.2 million viewers in its first four days, ranking as the week’s No. 2 most-watched TV show behind “Black Mirror” Season 7. “Ransom Canyon” grew to reach 9.4 million views in its second week — second to “You” Season 5 — before sliding down to 4.2 million in its third week and 2.5 million in its fourth week. “Ransom Canyon” never topped the English-language TV list during its four weeks on the top 10 list.

Likewise, “Forever,” which was granted a sophomore season renewal just over a week after its premiere, debuted to nearly half the viewership of “The Waterfront” with 3.7 million views, but the YA romance series quickly became a cult favorite among viewers. Viewership for “Forever” went on to grow to 6.7 million views in its second week before sliding down to 3.2 million in its third and 2.3 million viewers in its fourth — notably also not making it to the top of Netflix’s TV list in its four weeks on the top 10.

On the other hand, recently released series “The Residence” and “Pulse” — which debuted in March and April, respectively — have not yet received the green light for sophomore seasons despite exhibiting promising viewership and remaining on the top 10 list for their first four weeks. “The Residence,” a comedic whodunnit starring Uzo Aduba set in the White House, debuted to 6.4 million views in its first four days, before growing to 8.8 million in its second week and sliding back down to 4.6 million and 3.1 million, respectively, in its third and fourth. Likewise, the medical drama “Pulse” scored a debut viewership of 6.5 million, grew to 8.5 million in its second week and then dropped to 3.2 million and 2 million the next two weeks.

While a second season of “Pulse” would pick up from up on the drama from Miami’s Maguire Medical Center, it should be noted that continuing “The Residence” would require more creative planning, as creator Paul William Davies previously stated that a second season would take detective Cordelia Cupp to a new murder mystery in a different location.

We’d be remiss not to note the recent renewal for comedy series “The Four Seasons,” which debuted to a viewership of 11.9 million as the week’s most-watched TV series and hung onto the top spot as it grew to 12.5 million views in its second before sliding down the list for the additional three weeks it stayed on the top 10 list.

With most TV series seeing growth in their second week — capturing viewership for a full week rather than the four days from its Thursday release through Sunday — “The Waterfront” will likely tack on some viewers next week, but the series already has a solid start.

Don’t expect it to top the TV list next week though, as Netflix juggernaut “Squid Game” returns for its third and final season on Friday.

NBA Finals close out strong

After exhibiting a decline likely due to the pairing of two smaller markets in Indianapolis and Oklahoma City, Sunday’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals delivered the biggest audience the playoffs have seen in six years. The game brought in an average viewership of 16.6 million viewers and peaked with 19.6 million as Thunder took home the NBA championship.

While some early games trended downwards from previous years, the overall average for the entirety of 2025 NBA playoffs, which included 34 games, was up 10% from 2024.

Prime Video brings younger viewers to the NASCAR Cup series

The NBA Finals weren’t the only sport to conclude to ratings success on Sunday, with the NASCAR Cup Series, which streamed exclusively on Prime Video for the first time, averaging 2.16 million viewers across five events, according to Nielsen.

The series scored especially well among younger viewers, with Prime Video averaging a median age of 56.1 for the five races — nearly seven years younger than the linear audience watching the Cup Series in 2025.

“NCIS” sees streaming growth with Season 22 finale

“NCIS” was the No. 1 most-watched acquired title on Nielsen’s streaming charts during the week of May 19 — a feat the CBS procedural series has not reached since 2023. “NCIS” is a mainstay in the top 10 acquired list, and even ranks as the all-time top acquired program by number of appearances (265 overall), but the “NCIS” Season 22 finale, which aired on CBS on May 5 and was available to stream on Paramount+ the next day, boosted streaming viewership to unprecedented heights.

“NCIS” logged 824 million minutes during the week, ranking as the No. 2 most-watched streaming title overall.

“America’s Got Talent” and “Destination X” boost NBC’s summer Tuesdays

With most scripted broadcast shows on hiatus until the fall, unscripted series “America’s Got Talent” and “Destination X” boosted NBC’s Tuesday primetime lineup to top the major broadcast networks.

“America’s Got Talent” Season 20 has reached 24 million total viewers across NBC and Peacock this summer to date, per NBCUniversal, while new series “Destination X” has reached 14 million total viewers across NBC and Peacock. 

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The uptick in streaming can already be seen in Nielsen’s May report of The Gauge, which saw streaming’s share of total television usage outpace the combined share of broadcast and cable for the first time ever. Beyond the streaming milestone, May is typically the lowest viewed month of the year, per Fuhrer, who noted that viewing slowly picks up in the summer before coming back in full force with football season in the fall.

Though overall TV viewing is down in the summertime as viewers enjoy the warmer weather outdoors and head on vacation, streaming typically takes a bigger piece of the overall viewing pie with an absence of sports and big releases on linear TV. “[Streaming] doesn’t have this competition that they face in the fall with sports, and also the corresponding originals that broadcast and cable introduced during that season,” Fuhrer said.

Streaming accounted for 44.8% of total TV usage in May 2025, the highest percentage the sector has seen this year, previously accounting for 44.3% in April, 43.8% in March, 43.5% in February and 42.6% in January. The same trend could be seen in 2024, when May saw the highest streaming percentage of the year with 38.8%, ticking up to 40.3% in June then 41.4% and 41% in July and August, respectively. May 2023 similarly saw usage rise to its highest of the year at 36.4% before rising to 37.7% in June, 38.7% in July — which marked the largest streaming percentage of all of 2023 — and 38.3% in August.

He also noted that though cable historically introduced their original series in the summer, much of those have moved to the fall, in alignment with broadcast channels. Buzzy series like HBO’s “The Gilded Age” and new shows like FX’s “Alien: Earth” and USA Network’s “The Rainmaker” will still debut on cable this summer.

Instead, Fuhrer noted that big streaming releases over the summer — which can be seen in the debuts of “Squid Game” Season 3 and “Wednesday” Season 2 on Netflix and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 on Prime Video — also help drive viewership to streaming.

Summer vacation also correlates to a higher percentage of kids and family programming, with family movies like “Moana 2,” which is about to approach 100 billion viewing minutes, and “The Wild Robot,” which was made available on Netflix in late May, resonating the most, Fuhrer explained. Notably, there isn’t too much of a boost for “Cocomelon” or “Bluey,” which is a mainstay on Nielsen’s weekly top 10 streaming charts, as those series resonate most with kids age 5 and under who aren’t in school yet.

Fuhrer also noted with school out for the summer, kids ages 12-17 often use moviegoing as an escape to get out of the house, though there’s plenty of families still waiting for movies to drop on streaming. “Whenever movies come out, they drop on one of the streaming services, they dramatically over-index among Hispanic homes,” Fuhrer said.

NBA finals grow audience, but still trend down

Friday’s Game 4 between the Pacers and Thunder averaged 9.41 million viewers on ABC, growing from the previous three games — which averaged 8.91 million, 8.76 million and 9.19 million viewers, respectively — but still trended downwards, overall. Viewership for Game 4 was down 2% from last year’s Celtics-Mavericks, and marks the least-watched Game 4, excluding the pandemic-ridden 2020 NBA Finals.

Estrella Media establishes itself as No. 1 FAST Channel for U.S. Hispanic audiences

EstrellaTV and Estrella News have ranked as the top Latino FAST channels in 2024’s fourth quarter, per an Amagi/Ampere report. Estrella has seen a 19% uptick in monthly unqiues, with 31 billion minutes streamed monthly, while premium CTV ad inventory has grown 290% in 2025 alone. Estrella has also seen a 35% increase in video views and gained 1 million new subscribers.

“Wheel of Fortune” closes 2024-25 season with ratings growth

“Wheel of Fortune,” which saw Ryan Seacrest take over as host after Pat Sajak’s retirement, closed out the TV season with an overall uptick in both total viewers and households, making it the only syndicated game show to see growth. “Wheel of Fortune” averaged 7.93 million total viewers — gaining 74,000 viewers compared to last year — and averaged a 4.6 household rating for the season, up +1% year over year.

Overall, “Wheel of Fortune” ended the 2024-25 season as the No. 2 most-watched first-run syndicated series, after only “Jeopardy!” in both households and total viewers. 

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Most notably, CNN doubled its primetime audience by averaging 765,000 viewers from Friday through Tuesday, according to Nielsen figures, compared to 383,000 for the same week-earlier period. Demo viewership in primetime also saw a 109% spike, as CNN reached 142,000 viewers in the key cable news demo among adults 25-49, from 68,000 demo viewers the previous week.

CNN saw by far the biggest boost, which can also be attributed in part to the protests picking up on Saturday, when the network televised a live performance of George Clooney’s play “Good Night, and Good Luck” — the special scored 7.34 million viewers globally. Still, both Fox News and MSNBC also saw slight upticks in viewership during the period as well.

Fox News averaged 2.32 million primetime viewers from Friday through Tuesday — up 5% from the previous week’s 2.2 million — while MSNBC saw a 12% uptick in viewership to reach 906,000 viewers (up from 809,000 the week prior). Fox and MSNBC also posted demo gains of 17% and 28%, respectively, at 269,000 and 91,000 viewers.

The trend was similar in total-day viewership, though CNN only saw a 52% uptick, to 465,000 viewers, by that measure. Like primetime, CNN saw the biggest increase among the major cable news networks but remained in third place behind Fox (1.48 million) and MSNBC (571,000).

The protests also resulted in a surge for local news in the L.A. market. KCAL, CBS’ local Los Angeles channel, saw a 158% viewership jump during Saturday’s primetime news programming, as well as a 166% increase in viewership during Sunday’s 8-11 p.m. news slot compared to the previous week. Sister station KCBS also saw a 26% increase for its 11 p.m. news.

NBA Finals ratings slide

As expected, having two relatively small-market teams in the NBA Finals has turned out to be drag on ratings.

The first two games between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers averaged 8.84 million viewers, scoring 8.91 million and 8.76 million, respectively, for Games 1 and 2. Viewership for Game 2 fell nearly 30% below last year’s matchup between the Celtics and the Mavericks — which brought in 12.3 million viewers — and marked the least-watched Game 2 since 2007, excluding 2020, when the pandemic-confined game brought in 7.54 million viewers.

NCAA Women’s College World Series makes history

Reflecting continued growth for women’s sports, the 2025 NCAA Women’s College World Series drew a record audience, averaging 1.3 million viewers across 15 games on ESPN. That represents a 24% gain from last year, outpacing the previous high set by the 2021 tournament.

The finals, which pitted Texas against Texas Tech, averaged a total linear viewership of 2.2 million, as both Games 1 and 2 ranked as the most-watched ever (2.1 million viewers) for those contests.

“The Rookie” soars on streaming

ABC procedural “The Rookie” has climbed its way into Nielsen’s streaming charts due to its strong viewing on Hulu, appearing in the company’s top 10 most-watched acquired streaming programs for the past nine weeks and 13 of the 19 weeks reported in 2025.

While the show has benefited from the new season’s next-day viewing on Hulu, Nielsen reports that recent episodes only account for 33% of the show’s 2025 viewing, meaning that most viewers might be discovering the show for the first time on Hulu.

Most recently, “The Rookie” was the No. 5 most-streamed acquired show during the week of May 5, with 674 million viewing minutes, behind frequent list toppers “Bluey” at No. 1, “Grey’s Anatomy” at No. 2, HBO’s “The Last of Us” third and “NCIS” fourth.

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