Abbott Elementary Season Premiere Quadruples Ratings in Its First Week

The first season of Abbott Elementary quickly proved that Quinta Brunson’s school-set sitcom was going to be a bigger hit than anyone expected. Ratings steadily rose throughout the first season and word-of-mouth caused streaming numbers to spike every week. Season 2 of the Emmy-winning series debuted on ABC a couple of weeks ago and has continued its pace from Season 1, with the premiere actually quadrupling its ratings over the course of its first week.

The September 21st premiere of Abbott‘s second season saw 2.9 million viewers tune in to watch that day and earned a 0.6 in the 18-49 demographic. According to a new report from Variety, the next seven days saw a massive leap in viewership for the Season 2 premiere. Between Hulu, DVRs, and other streaming platforms, the Abbott Elementary premiere was watched by 7 million viewers in its first week. That led to a 318% jump in the rating, going from a 0.6 to a 2.38 in the demo.

Those same day numbers were on par with the Season 1 finale earlier this year, which earned a 0.6 rating and had 2.8 million viewers. However, one week of crossplatform viewing for that episode led to a 1.8 rating and 5.9 million total viewers, significantly smaller numbers than what we’re seeing from the Season 2 premiere. In other words, the Abbott Elementary audience is still growing.

Abbott‘s Season 2 premiere, titled “Development Day,” saw the teachers return to school to prepare for the new year. The episode featured a cameo from Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot-turned-Internet sensation.

“When you’ve reached the level of fame and success that Quinta and I have, you have people for that,” the mascot told . “Her people reached out to my people. Of course I’m a fan … It’s comedy, it’s Philly and it’s school. I love two of those things!” Gritty also sounded off on playing themselves on camera, adding: “Some, less experienced actors, have described the challenges of playing yourself on camera. I can’t relate. Truly, I found it refreshing that Hollywood didn’t try to get some C-lister like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to play me at a discount. I stuck to the script but of course added some of my Gritty charm we all know and love.”

New episodes of Abbott Elementary air on ABC on Wednesday nights.