‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Viewership More Than Doubles Last Year’s Premiere

The cast of “The Pitt,” which saw viewership more than double for its season 2 premiere.

Warrick Page/HBO MAX

The Pitt has become an even bigger hit. The popular HBO Max drama returned for season 2 on Thursday, and it saw a huge surge in viewership compared to the series premiere a year earlier.

The Pitt drew 3.4 million households in its first four days of streaming on the service, according to Samba TV, a provider of artificial intelligence-powered media analytics. That was more than double the 1.2 million households that tuned in for The Pitt’s season 1 debut.

That marked a very impressive 186% increase compared to the season 1 bow, which aired on February 5, 2025. And it continued a recent hot streak for the medical drama that is all the more welcome considering the significant issues facing parent company Warner Bros., which agreed to be sold to Netflix but faces a hostile counterbid from Paramount Skydance.

The Pitt Is On A Role

The Pitt is set in the emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital, where Dr. Robby (played by Noah Wylie) leads a team facing modern-day health care issues including lack of funding, being overworked, politics and the emotional strain of working with trauma victims.

Each episode is set in real time, representing an hour in the ER team’s lives. The show has been praised for its grittiness and mass appeal, reminiscent of network shows like IS and Chicago Hope that were popular back in the 1990s.

In fact, Wylie starred on ER, his first significant role, and there’s definitely a dose of nostalgia bringing people to The Pitt—viewers enjoy seeing him play a doctor again.

The program has been slowly gaining momentum since its debut last year. It has an outstanding 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoesand last fall it scored an upset victory over AppleTV+’s Severance in the best drama category at the Primetime Emmys.

The show followed that win up with another triumph at Sunday’s Golden Globesearning best drama as well as best actor for Wylie (who also won an Emmy).

The Pitt is now one of the most popular programs on HBO Max, which is known for prestige programs like Hacks and White Lotus that tend to dominate awards nominations. The Pitt has certainly kept pace.