Now that its first season is in the books, we keep getting more evidence that The Pitt was a bona fide hit for Max. Variety is reporting that the hospital drama averaged 10 million viewers across the first 14 episodes of its first season, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. This number is the average number of people who watched the show both when it premiered and in the days afterward, as opposed to on the day of each episode’s release.
WBD also said that the first episode has now hit 16.2 million viewers and that each episode has outperformed the previous one in night-of viewership for 13 straight weeks. The release of these viewership numbers is atypical for WBD, which typically only releases viewership numbers for shows that also air on HBO. WBD likely shared these numbers because of how successful The Pitt has been.
The show, which is set in a Pittsburgh emergency room and is told in what is essentially real time over the course of a single shift, became a slow-building phenomenon that, as the viewership data suggests, eventually became appointment television.
The show has already been renewed for a second season, and part of the plan for the series is to allow it to function more like old-fashioned network television. In addition to the show’s content, that also means longer seasons, and that the second season will debut just a year after the first.
In addition to catching on with viewers, The Pitt has also earned plenty of critical acclaim, and both fans and critics are already anticipating the show’s second season.