The season 4 premiere of Power suffered a bit due to competition from the BET Awards but its non-liner strategy made up for live viewership declines.
Partially facing the first part of the BET Awards, the 9 PM ET Season 4 premiere of Power snagged 1.68 million viewers and a 3.2 rating among adults 18-49. That’s a 26% drop from the Season 3 opener and a 20% downturn in the demo.
However, across all platforms and plays, Power Season 4 opener dipped just 9% in overall viewership from the Season 3 debut total to 3.26 million — which makes it the second-best Starz season debut ever. The Season 3 premiere of Power was and remains Starz’s best original series season debut numbers ever and the most-watched episode of any Starz original.
Taking the series starring Omari Hardwick, Lela Loren and Naturi Naughton off the traditional small screen, Starz and Power established some records with the Season 4 debut. As it has in the recent past with other high-profiles show, the Lionsgate-owned premium cabler offered the opening episode of Power Season 4 almost a day early on the Starz app and on Starz On Demand.
In perhaps an even greater indication of where the audience is and how to find it, Starz OTT subscriber sign-ups shot up nearly 150% over Power’s then-record Season 3 opening weekend subscriptions – which for a premium cabler is all about not leaving any viewer or money on the table.
