The return of True Blood on Sunday saw the ratings see a slight increase in viewers, maintaining the grip that vampires still have on popular culture. 5.4 million tuned in at 9 P.M. to find out what would happen to Sookie and the rest of the folks in Bon Temps; a 6 percent rise from last seasons premiere which was watched by 5.1 million. The executives over at HBO will also be happy by the extra 1 million viewers who watched the encore of the premiere at 11 P.M., bumping up the premiere figure to 6.4 million.
These figures were on par with the season 3 finale, showing that a lackluster closer didn't deter viewers in coming back. The clever marketing campaign that HBO ran by revealing the first 8 minutes as well as multiple promos and the TBWithdrawal aspect also helped to build anticipation for the return of True Blood (other networks really should pay attention to how this campaign was executed). Whilst the percentage rise in viewers between seasons has probably reached a plateau, this is not all that surprising now that the show has reached it's fourth season. The first season premiere back in September 2008 was only watched by 1.44 million and the increase between previous seasons has been much higher; the season 2 premiere got 3.7 million and the season 3 as stated above got 5.1 million. This isn't something to be too concerned with as it is natural for a show to stop having such a big rise in numbers, the concern will be if these numbers decline in the same way that they increased. True Blood is also HBO's most watched series since The Sopranos, an accolade that shouldn't be sniffed at.
Another important area that True Blood dominated in this weekend was the all important adults 18-49 key demographic where it scored an impressive 3.0 national rating, making it the number 1 scripted programme in this much sought after group of viewers for the week.
Another successful venture that HBO seem to have launched is the HBO GO app which passed the 3 million downloads mark after less than two months availability in the iTunes and Android market. This increase in downloads might have been aided by the exclusive first look at the True Blood second episode of this new season, "You Smell Like Dinner" straight after viewers had seen the season opener. The app also allows you to watch all of the previous episodes of True Blood as well as other HBO shows in their entirety such as The Sopranos, The Wire and Sex and the City making it a rather enticing download.
It will be interesting to see whether True Blood will maintain these figures and if the exclusive first look of the second episode on the HBO GO app will see a dent in the viewing figures for this episode. At the moment though True Blood continues to dominate for HBO as summer's must-see TV.
For a look at the promo for the next episode "You Smell Like Dinner" head here.
