The Last of Us: HBO hit attracts 7.2M viewers in 2 days

"The Last of Us," based on the mega-hit Naughty Dog game under the same name, was one of the most anticipated titles of this year. In the series writing process, Neil Druckmann, the original game creator, joined forces with Craig Mazin, the screenwriter of the award-winning miniseries Chernobyl. As a result, the first episode of "The Last of Us" premiered on HBO on January 15, 2023.

The show gained immediate critical acclaim, with a 99% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic gave the series an average score of 84 out of 100.

And media has already announced "The Last of Us" as the second-biggest cable channel’s premiere in over a decade (behind House of the Dragon). This information made us dig a little bit deeper into our Showlabs data.

We discovered that within the first two days after "The Last of Us" premiere, the show had aggregated 7.2M Unique Viewers (UV) on the HBO Max; at the same time, the total number of all viewing activities performed on "The Last of Us" was 8.0M. In terms of reach, "The Last of Us" achieved 23.3 % of the Share of Viewing, which means that the show was watched by almost a quarter of all active HBO Max profiles in the United States. In addition, the Total Hour Watched (THW) on the first day after release was more than 9M.

PlumResearch specializes in precise and granular data measurement from streaming platforms. It has the world’s largest online audience panel and provides its clients with data from over 75 markets worldwide.

Through Showlabs - the proprietary platform created by PlumResearch - the company’s clients can find out how shows and movies are performing worldwide and track what exactly contributes to their success. Showlabs provides clients with accurate data, in-depth insights, and a reliable customer support team.