Insecure ratings soar for season 2 premiere
By Hector Cruz
Ratings for the “Insecure” season 2 opener tripled the audience for the show’s series premiere last year and doubled its viewership from the season 1 finale.
Game of Thrones isn’t the only show breaking ratings records for HBO. The widely successful drama is also helping to boost the network’s comedies Ballers and Insecure, which returned for new seasons Sunday night. The latter series, in particular, saw a large increase from its numbers for its first season last fall, when it aired after fellow newcomers Westworld and Divorce.
The season 2 premiere drew its biggest audience ever, attracting 1.1 million viewers for its initial telecast, according to TV By the Numbers, far outpacing the ratings for both its first episode last October (365,000 viewers), as well as the season 1 finale in November (565,000 viewers). Additionally, it scored a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demo, also doubling its previous high.
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Meanwhile, the show’s lead-ins, Game of Thrones and Ballers, drew 9.27 million viewers (4.3 demo rating) and 2.48 million viewers (1.2 demo rating), respectively, which was also a series high for the Dwayne Johnson-led series. GoT reached its second largest ratings ever following last week’s season 7 premiere, dropping a bit from the 10.1 million viewers and 4.7 demo rating achieved for that episode.
Insecure, inspired by co-creator and star Issa Rae’s popular web series Awkward Black Girl, joins several other shows led by African-Americans that have found success on Sunday nights, along with the Niecy Nash series Claws on TNT and Starz’s Power. Insecure did better in the 18-49 demo than Claws (1.27 million viewers, 0.5 demo rating) with a smaller audience, but was behind Power (1.79 million viewers, 0.8 rating) in both metrics.
Next: Insecure season 2 preview and synopsis for episode 2, “Hella Questions”
In its second season, Insecure will continue to explore the personal and professional lives of Issa and Molly (Yvonne Orji), two best friends in their early 30’s living in Los Angeles. It co-stars Jay Ellis, Natasha Rothwell, Amanda Seales and Lisa Joyce.
Insecure season 2 continues Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET on HBO.