EXCLUSIVE: Season 7 of The Chi is putting up a strong performance on Showtime.
Sunday night’s mid-season episode managed 1.78M cross-platform viewers in just three days, making it one of the top episodes of the season, per Showtime. The episode was up 23% versus the season-to-date average of 1.45M viewers after three days.
Additionally, the episodes is the most-streamed in series history, Showtime says. The network didn’t share specific streaming numbers.
The Chi has been on a growth trajectory the entire season, scoring series’ best audience numbers since Season 7 premiered. The Season 7 debut had 2M cross-platform viewers in seven days and, at the time, was the most-streamed episode to-date. So, it’s quite a feat for the mid-season episode to garner nearly that entire audience in less than half the time.
The series was already renewed for Season 8, which is a strong indicator that parent company Paramount Global is happy with this performance. With the Season 8 pickup, The Chi has tied Dexter, Homeland and Weeds for the second-longest run in Showtime’s history, only behind Shameless‘ 11 seasons.
The Chi is a coming-of-age story centering on a group of residents on the South Side of Chicago who become linked by coincidence but bonded by the need for connection and redemption.
The main ensemble cast includes Jacob Latimore, Lynn Whitfield, Yolonda Ross, Shamon Brown Jr., Michael V. Epps, Birgundi Baker and Luke James.
The Chi is produced by 20th Television. Created and executive produced by Lena Waithe (Twenties, Master of None) under her Hillman Grad banner, the series is executive produced by co-showrunners Justin Hillian (Hillianaire Productions) and Jewel Coronel, and Common (Selma).
Additional executive producers include Aaron Kaplan (A Million Little Things, The Neighborhood), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), Resheida Brady-Anderson, Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone of ID8 Multimedia as well as Naomi Funabashi, who oversees for Hillman Grad and Rishi Rajani, CEO of Hillman Grad. Supervising producers Deondray Gossfield and Quincy LeNear Gossfield directed multiple episodes in season seven.
