HBO’s Euphoria may be a target because of its perceived glamorization of drugs, sex, and violence involving teens but that hasn’t stopped it from being a hit with viewers. Season one of Euphoria achieved success but season two has, so far, been a viewership dream for HBO.
Per Variety, Euphoria has nearly doubled its season one per-episode viewership. The season two premiere, which aired on January 9, 2022, has pulled in 13.1 million viewers across multiple HBO and HBO Max to date. In addition to this, Episodes 2 and 3 have tracked similarly in viewership and this represents close to a +100% increase over season one which saw a 6.6 million average audience size during the summer of 2019.
The big difference this year is that season two of Euphoria is getting a big streaming push via HBO Max. Season one aired in a pre-HBO Max world, although it was available on HBO Now and HBO Go at the time. The marketing strategy has really pushed viewers to catch the show via streaming as well as linear viewings and that could be why the series has seen a sharp increase over its season one performance.
Sunday’s episode of Euphoria, its fourth, drew 3.2 million viewers across three linear airings on HBO and streams on HBO Max. This makes it the second-most-watched episode of the series ever, behind only Episode 3 of this current season which reached 3.6 million viewers. Comparing Episode 4’s performance from this season versus season one, the episode was up a staggering 166%. Euphoria season two has hit series highs in viewership each week from its January 9 premiere, except for this last episode and that is being attributed to competing with the much-watched NFC Championship game on Fox that night.
Euphoria is a look at life for a group of high school students as they grapple with issues of drugs, sex, and violence. It’s loosely based on the Israeli series of the same name and creator Sam Levinson based the series on his own experiences as a teenager, including his struggles with depression, anxiety, and drug addiction. While some critics were critical of the show’s depiction of teenage drug use, sex, and violence, most of them praised the show for its honest performances, visual style, and its unflinching portrayal of a subject matter involving teens that most would ignore or sugarcoat.
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