“Heated Rivalry” continues to grow in viewership more than a month after the conclusion of its first season.
To date, “Heated Rivalry” has reached an average of 10.6 million viewers per episode in the U.S. according to Warner Bros. Discovery. The series, which is produced by the Canadian streaming service Crave, streams on WBD-owned HBO Max in the U.S. and became a word-of-mouth sensation upon its debut in November, with each episode delivering a larger audience than the one before it. The finale, which was released on Dec. 26, saw an increase of more than 300% compared to the premiere week audience.
WBD also boasts that the series’ audience has more than doubled since the finale, and that it ranks as the most-watched scripted title acquired from another platform in HBO Max history.
“Heated Rivalry” is based on the Rachel Reid book series “Game Changers” and is named after the series’ first installation, which was published in 2019. The logline for the TV show reads, “Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) are two of the biggest stars in Major League Hockey, bound by ambition, rivalry and a magnetic pull neither of them fully understands. What begins as a secret fling between two fresh-faced rookies evolves into a years-long journey of love, denial, and self-discovery. Over the next eight years, the pair chase glory on the ice while struggling to navigate their feelings off it. Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can’t ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love.” The cast also includes François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Sophie Nélisse and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova.
Jacob Tierney created the series, which was produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment in association with Bell Media’s Crave. Sphere Abacus is the international distributor.