HBO's 'Vinyl' Opens Lower Than Expected

Over the course of 2015, HBO TWX didn't debut a single new dramatic series. As a result anticipation was high for "Vinyl," which came with a pedigree including Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terrence Winter. While initial reaction was positive from the media, investors are seeing a different response from audiences. "Vinyl's" two-hour debut drew 764,000 viewers. Even counting the 371,000 viewer bump from the replay that followed it those numbers are disappointing. Compare that data to the numbers from some of the company's other recent dramas including "The Leftovers" (1.77 million) and "The Newsroom" (2.14 million) and its even clearer the level of mismatch. "Vinyl" is a dramatic look at the music industry in the 1970's with a cast including Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde and Ray Romano. On paper this should have worked and its under-performance will be analyzed a lot in the coming days by investors and analysts. In fairness, "Vinyl" debuted during an absurdly tough night that included the return of The Walking Dead and the NBA All-Star Game…it was also Valentine's Day. The problem is that because this is HBO, a potential flop garners more attention than a success. The lone potential saving grace here is the +3 and +7 time-shifted numbers that are still to come. The traditional networks have learned to rely heavily on this extra data but because this is HBO, it hasn't really had a need. Usually HBO series dominate, but as we've seen with shows like "John From Cincinnati," and "Luck," some don't always resonate. Regardless given HBO Now's lower subscriber count, this wasn't the start to 2016, the company was looking for.