'Friends' Reunion Drew 2 Million Households Over Weekend

HBO Max's 'Friends: Reunion'
(Image credit: HBO Max)

The heavily hyped reunion of the cast of Friends on HBO Max attracted 2 million U.S. households over the holiday weekend, according to figures from Samba TV.

The 2 million viewers that watched the Friends special was bigger than the 1.7 million that watched the finale of Mare of Easttown on HBO Max. 

HBO Max is part of WarnerMedia, which AT&T is spinning off and merging with Discovery, which will become Warner Bros. Discovery when the transaction closes.

It also outdrew Cruella, which got 686,000 households via Disney Plus Premier Access. To watch, Disney Plus subscribers had to fork over $30.

The Friends reunion features the long-running sitcom’s six stars hosted by CBS’s James Corden. There were also appearances by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Tom Selleck.

Samba TV said the Friends reunion skewed younger, over-indexing with viewers 54 and down. Viewers also tended to be affluent.

In New Hampshire and Wyoming, 24% of all households watched the reunion. 

Samba said viewership was bigger in the U.K., where it also appeared on linear TV. The show had 2.5 million households in the U.K.

According to JustWatch, Friends has been the most popular show on HBO Max since it launched a year ago. 

Doctor Who, Rick and Morty, Watchmen and The Wire, round out the top five, according to JustWatch.

JustWatch, an international streaming guide that helps over 20 million users per month across 47 countries to find something great to watch on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus and other streaming services.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.