Sci-fi drama is HBO's largest series debut audience since 'True Detective'

Westworld ratings: HBO's biggest premiere in nearly 3 years

Westworld type TV Show network HBO

HBO’s Westworld looks like a hit.

Sunday’s premiere episode delivered a strong 3.3 million viewers across its first two airings and streaming, industry sources say.

That’s HBO’s biggest series premiere audience since the first season of True Detective nearly three years ago (January 2014). And True Detective stands as HBO’s largest series opening since Boardwalk Empire back in 2010.

Westworld did way better than the network’s most recent expensive gamble, Vinyl, which opened to only 764,000 viewers last February and was canceled after a single season.

The sci-fi series was down a bit from a show to which its frequently compared, Game of Thrones, which debuted to 4.2 million viewers across multiple airings back in 2011.

Successful HBO dramas tend to often debut somewhat modest, then grow week after week due to word of mouth and subscribers getting a chance to catch up via On Demand, on DVR, and in repeats.

Combined with its glowing reviews from critics, Sunday’s Westworld ratings set the stage for an extremely likely second season renewal.

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