To avoid finding itself in direct competition with the Super Bowl, HBO has decided to bring forward the broadcast date of the 5th episode of The Last of Us in the United States. In fact, French spectators also benefit from this shift.
While episode 4 of the HBO series The Last of Us has been available on Amazon Prime Video since Monday, February 6, 2023, we have just learned good news about episode 5. Indeed, HBO plans to broadcast it a little early.
If usually, HBO offers each new episode of its flagship series on Sunday evening, the platform faces a major competitor this Sunday, February 12: the Super Bowl. And yes, the long-awaited clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will begin at 9 p.m. in the United States.
Even if The Last of Us can boast of having got off to a better start than House of The Dragon with 4.7 million viewers for its first episode, and steadily increasing audiences (+ 37% on the 3rd episode and its 6 .4 million spectators), the show will not be able to fight against such a mastodon. As our colleagues on the site remind us Deadline, the Super Bowl brought together no less than 99.2 million Americans in front of their TV sets last year. That’s double the audience recorded by the NFL playoffs.
Also to read : The Last of Us – why episode 3 is controversial and receives a wave of bad ratings
HBO delays The Last of Us broadcast to avoid the Super Bowl
To avoid finding yourself face to face with this titan, HBO has made the decision to broadcast the 5th episode of The Last of Us this Friday, February 10 from 9 p.m. to USA. Regarding France, Amazon Prime Video, which is the exclusive broadcaster of the series in France, has confirmed that the 5th episode of TLOU (for friends) will be available on the platform from Saturday February 11.
By doing so, HBO won’t have to rely solely on delayed viewing to make up for any ratings losses caused by the Super Bowl. Regarding VOD precisely, The Last of Us is also a hit, since the first two episodes brought together no less than 21 million viewers after their initial broadcast.
Please note, however, that this is an exceptional measure. In other words, HBO will then resume its usual schedule with the broadcast of an episode every Sunday in the USA until the conclusion of the show, scheduled for March 12, 2023.
