The immense buzz and critical acclaim did not drive extra eyeballs to USA Network’s “Mr. Robot.”
Wednesday’s second season premiere actually trailed last year’s premiere and finale in adults 18-49. Its live+same-day viewership figure represents a new series low.
According to live+same-day data posted by Showbuzz, Wednesday’s 91-minute “Mr. Robot” drew a disappointing 0.43 adults 18-49 rating and 1.04 million total viewers.
The “Mr. Robot” series premiere posted a 0.46 adults 18-49 rating and reached 1.75 million live+same-day viewers on June 24, 2015. The September 2, 2015 first season finale posted a 0.46 and 1.21 million total viewers.
Last year’s premiere was also made far more widely available in advance of the official television broadcast. USA only made the first half of the second season opener available for early streaming, and the availability was limited to a small window Sunday night.
There is relevance in noting that the first two thirds of this Wednesday’s “Mr. Robot” faced competition from ABC’s ESPY Awards ceremony, which may have lured away potential viewers. The evidence? “Mr. Robot” delivered one of its worst first season performances against the 2015 ESPYs.
Sobering, however, is the fact that this week’s “Mr. Robot” premiere did not even outperform that episode. Opposite the 2015 ESPYs, which drew higher ratings than the 2016 edition, the July 15, 2015 “Mr. Robot” drew the same 0.43 adults 18-49 rating but a stronger viewership total of 1.27 million.
Many were expecting the second season “Mr. Robot” premiere to dramatically outperform the show’s first season average; there is consequently no way to spin this week’s numbers as anything but disappointing.
— Lead-in “Suits” also posted underwhelming marks for its sixth season premiere. Despite following up on a big event — Mike Ross went to prison in the fifth season finale — Wednesday’s “Suits” drew a soft 0.53 adults 18-49 rating and 1.85 million total viewers.
The fifth season premiere posted a stronger 0.61 rating and 2.13 million viewer mark on June 24, 2015. The mid-fifth season premiere fared slightly better in the demo (0.54) but slightly worse in viewers (1.74 million).
— “Mr. Robot” led into a live “Hacking Robot” special, which drew a modest 0.17 rating and 0.38 million total viewers from 11:32PM-12:32AM.
