FX's Adults Season 2 Posts 40% Viewership Jump — SkimNews
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- Adults Season 2 viewership grew more than 40% season-over-season across Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally over the first 12 days of release, per Disney internal streaming data cited by FX.
- International viewership doubled — up 100% for Season 2 — off a small Season 1 base, making it the biggest growth driver in the show's streaming rebound.
- FX released a standalone prequel episode titled Marathon Day on July 31, a month before Season 2, and Season 1 viewership rose 50% in the weeks following — a strategic move the source credits as a key driver of the sequel's audience.
- Adults Season 2's U.S. audience growth of 30%+ tracks a Rotten Tomatoes critics score jump to 100% from 77% for Season 1.
- Hulu cancelled a similar 20-something New York comedy, Not Suitable For Work, after one season; sources tell Deadline Adults outperformed it at a significantly lower cost.
- Linear ratings on FX and FXX remain very small because of the show's young skew, with nearly all viewing happening on Hulu domestically and Disney+ internationally.
Why it matters: Adults is one of the few streaming originals converting critical goodwill into a Season 2 audience lift, and the Marathon Day prequel episode points to a replicable playbook: a low-cost standalone bridge episode that pulled lapsed viewers back into Season 1 before the new drop. With a similar, pricier Hulu comedy already cancelled, the show's performance gives FX a cheaper model for the young-adult demo even as linear ratings stay negligible.
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