Love Island USA has clearly grown in popularity since last year’s dramatic season.
Season 7 premiered on June 3, and by the end of the next week, it became the second most-watched streaming show on TV. From June 6 to 12, viewers watched 1.2 billion minutes of the nine available episodes, according to Luminate’s streaming data.
That’s a 244% jump from the week before, when only the first few episodes were out and got about 335 million minutes viewed. But the biggest jump is when compared to last season. Season 6 outdid every previous season by a large margin, but it didn’t really take off until around mid-July, which was a month into its six-week run.
For example, Luminate reported that Season 6 had 500.7 million minutes watched during the week of June 21. Since it premiered on June 11, that number includes about 15 episodes, which drew only half of what Season 7 managed with just nine. Season 6 didn’t hit the one billion minutes mark until the week of July 8.
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Season 7 of Love Island USA is moving fast, as it airs almost in real time. So, its viewership may keep growing, especially since the most talked-about parts of the show, like “Casa Amor” and “Movie Night,” haven’t happened yet. It’ll be interesting to see how far this season can go and whether it will beat Season 6’s highest numbers.
Love Island UK also launched the same week this data was recorded, which might affect Love Island USA’s viewership. Since both shows share some of the same audience, the impact could go either way. It could boost excitement and engagement or cause viewers to feel a bit tired, since both air six days a week.
What’s certain is that Season 6 helped the U.S. version of the show reach a whole new level of popularity. The rise last season likely came from several things. The cast caught the viewers’ attention in a way previous ones didn’t. That’s why Peacock is giving them their own spinoff series, Love Island: Beyond the Villa, which comes out in July.
Also, Vanderpump Rules’ “Ariana Madix” became the host last season, which definitely helped bring more attention to the show. And last season’s drama got social media, especially TikTok, buzzing with posts, which likely helped boost audience engagement.
Love Island USA is produced by ITV America. The series is based on a format owned by Lifted Entertainment and GroupM Motion Entertainment and distributed by ITV Studios.
Source: Deadline