HBO estimates 2.9 million watched Succession finale on Sunday night

HBO's Succession finale was watched by an estimated 2.9 million viewers on Sunday.

HBO said 2.9 million people watched or streamed the series finale of Succession on Sunday night, a series record that is expected to grow as delayed viewing is taken into account. That beat the first-night record of 2.75 million for an episode that aired on April 30, earlier in the fourth and last season of the family drama about a media company.

HBO said 2.9 million people watched the finale of Succession.

The series finale

The audience can be expected to expand significantly, when delayed viewing is taken into account. For example, Succession episodes this season have been seen by an average of 8.7 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company.

The series finale provided an answer to the question central to the story, about whether any of media magnate Logan Roy's children would inherit control over his media empire. Earlier, showrunner Jesse Armstrong had said that he knew how he wanted to end the show and that choice did not change with the possibility of how it must end with the successive seasons.

Succession vs Game of Thrones numbers

Succession didn't approach HBO's record of 19.8 million people, who watched the 2019 finale of Game of Thrones on its premiere night. HBO estimated that some 46 million people have watched that episode when delayed viewing is taken into account.

HBO said that Barry, its series starring Bill Hader, had 700,000 viewers on the night of its finale this past week. Episodes have been average 3.4 million viewers this season.

Succession finale reactions

Succession aired its 90-minute series finale on Sunday and many took to Twitter in the wake of the series-long tussle to become the successor of Logan Roy. Fans hail the finale episode of the acclaimed HBO show, and shared their responses to the payoff.

"This truly feels like the end of a golden era of television. Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Brian Cox, Matthew Macfadyen & the rest of the cast have all magnified the superb writing with their monumental performances. A glorious series I'll never forget. Succession" said a fan. "Succession finale is like avengers endgame for people with untreated mental illnesses," quipped one fan on Twitter. "It’s incredible to me that absolutely nothing about these people changed from Day 1. No growth, no moral realizations, no sacrifices for the greater good, etc. Just a story about a group of absolute f***s." said a fan.