EXCLUSIVE: High Potential has made quite a promising return to ABC for its sophomore season.
The Season 2 premiere uncovered 12M total multi-platform viewers after seven days across ABC, Hulu, Disney+ and digital platforms, per a combination of Nielsen and internal streaming data, marking a 28% lift over last year’s series premiere performance (which already had managed a fairly impressive 9.3M in the seven-day window).
It’s also nearly triple the same-day audience for the episode, which sat around 4.34M, according to Nielsen.
Disney says this is ABC’s best season premiere viewership for a drama in five years, since the November 12, 2020, Season 17 premiere of Grey’s Anatomy — a two-hour affair that included a Station 19 crossover.
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In terms of the 18-49 demo, the episode put up a 2.21 rating, up 7% from the series premiere’s seven-day figure.
The Season 2 premiere of High Potential also got two linear encore airings, which catapulted the total audience in that seven-day time frame to nearly 16M.
Per Disney, the episode set a new streaming record for the series, hitting an all-time high based on views to-date from its September 17 debut through Sunday. That includes viewership across Hulu and Disney+. Disney didn’t provide exact viewership figures.
However, Nielsen data shows that the High Potential Season 2 premiere earned 7.34M total viewers across seven days on linear alone, meaning that the streaming audience at least hit, if not surpassed, about 5M total viewers within the first week.
High Potential returns September 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC streaming next day on Hulu. The series is produced by 20th Television.
In the upcoming episode, when a man with a troubled past is killed under mysterious circumstances, Morgan and the LAPD uncover a tragic motive behind his death. Meanwhile, Morgan opens up to Ava about her father, forcing Ava to confront truths she isn’t ready to face.