‘Veep’ viewership surges as Kamala Harris seeks Democratic nomination for president
'Veep' viewership has surged more than 300% overnight following Vice President Kamala Harris' announcement she'd seek the presidential bid.
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Life imitates art, right?
When Vice President Kamala Harris announced her Democratic presidential bid, social media posts began making comparisons to Veep, the critically-acclaimed HBO series in which Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays the vice president, eventually taking over as the president.
As it turns out, the renewed interest in the political satire — which aired from 2012 through 2019 — is translating into soaring viewership rates. As first reported by Deadline, Veep viewership on Max was up 353% on Monday with 2.2 million total minutes watched according to Luminate’s Streaming Viewership data.
In the TV show, Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer is vice president alongside President Stewart Hughes (who’s never seen on camera). By the second season of the show, Hughes abruptly resigns from office citing his wife’s health and Meyer becomes POTUS.
The parallels have sparked dozens of memes, prompting the show’s creator, Armando Iannucci, to weigh in and remind fans that Veep really was just pretend.
Deadline also reported a similar surge in viewership for Hillbilly Elegy, the movie adaption of JD Vance’s memoir following the news that former President Donald Trump had selected Vance as his running mate.
Netflix viewership for the film grew by 1,180% in 24 hours after Trump announced Vance’s involvement.