Adult Swim Reports 57% Increase In L3 Post-Premiere Viewership, Over 100,000 Fans Attend #WORMAGEDDON Immersive Builds
As the new season of Rick and Morty unleashes around the world, fans have turned out in droves to celebrate Adult Swim’s Emmy® award-winning animated comedy. Beginning today, fans in the U.S. and select global territories will be able to stream the season six premiere episode “Solaricks” via Adult Swim’s YouTube channel HERE until September 27.
Viewership in the U.S. continues to grow since the September 4 premiere. After only three days post-premiere, the first episode of season six of Rick and Morty saw +57% growth in delivery with delayed viewing three days after its premiere, bringing its overall delivery to 1,033,000 viewers (Persons 2+).
- The premiere episode saw similar gains across key adult viewers, with Adults 18-24 up +55% (90K), 18-34 +60% (335K), 18-49 up +65% (713K), and 25-54 +65% (731K). These delayed viewing gains skewed slightly higher with males, but even female audiences grew by almost +50%.
- Focusing on Total Day for Sunday, September 4, across all cable, the Rick and Morty premiere maintained its #1 watched for the day claim among young adults 18-24 and 18-34, while trailing in second behind HBO Prime’s linear premiere play of House of the Dragon among adults 18-49. Among adults 25-54, Rick and Morty was in the Top 5 telecasts (#4) of the day, excluding sports programming. *
Debuting in 112 countries in 38 languages, Rick and Morty also captured substantial international viewership. Rick and Morty has been the best performing animated show on HBO Max in Europe since the platform launched. The series is also in the top 10 best performing series on HBO Max in Europe in 2022. HBO Max in Latin America reported a Rick and Morty viewership growth of over 500% in the week following the debut of the season six premiere episode on the service.
Yesterday marked the official conclusion of the global Rick and Morty #WORMAGEDDON immersive fan experience which galvanized fans both online and in-person to partake in a special “living episode” of their favorite show. Since the first build was revealed in Mexico City on August 20, over 100,000 fans showed up in-person to one or more of the 14 unique scenes that were spotted on six continents.
Additionally, fans at home were also able to follow along with the global adventure via a series of custom animated shorts about the origins of #WORMAGEDDON including [A Citadel Secret], [A Journey to Earth], [Threat Level: Wormageddon], and [Wormageddon: Final Showdown] alongside original videos featuring each build. As of today, the original #WORMAGEDDON video content has received a combined total of over 75 million global views and counting.
“It’s so satisfying to see people around the world showing up, literally in person this time, for this new season of Rick and Morty,” said Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim and Cartoon Network. “It speaks volumes about the talent and care that go into making this amazing series.”
With some fans traveling to multiple countries to visit different unique builds, and nine lucky fans winning the treasure hunt to receive a coveted lifesize, golden “Rick” head, #WORMAGEDDON reached Rick and Morty fans in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and several cities in the United States.
“It’s absolutely electrifying to the witness the Rick and Morty fan community from different countries around the world coming together to celebrate this series” said Tricia Melton, chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Discovery Kids, Young Adults and Classics group. “We knew the power of the Rick and Morty fandom, but it’s still nothing short of astounding to find how many fans took the time to visit one of our 14 custom builds in person, or to follow the adventure online.”
New episodes of Rick and Morty debut in the U.S. on Sundays at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT on Adult Swim.