“Veep” Viewership Soars 350% After Biden Endorses Kamala Harris

When life imitates art, it can sometimes feel almost uncannily predictive.

Vice President Kamala Harris has recently surged into the spotlight as the Democrats’ likely nominee in the upcoming presidential race, sparking a renewed interest in HBO’s “Veep.” The Emmy Award-winning series has drawn attention due to its storyline that bears a striking resemblance to current events. President Joe Biden’s choice to drop out of the race and endorse his vice president mirrors the show’s plot.

According to Luminate, an entertainment data company that tracks streaming viewership, the show’s Season 1 viewership increased by over 350% on Monday. On that day, viewers watched a total of 2.2 million minutes of “Veep,” a significant rise from 486,000 viewing minutes the previous day.

In “Veep,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus portrays fictional U.S. Senator Selina Meyer, who runs for president but ends up becoming vice president instead. Meyer then ascends to the presidency when her boss resigns in the show’s second season.

This isn’t the first time that a political campaign has revived interest in previous works. After Former President Donald Trump announced Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list. Streams of Ron Howard’s film adaptation of the memoir also surged, as reported by Luminate.

Veep creator Armando Iannucci took to social media platform X to comment on the similarities between his show and current political events. In response to a post highlighting these parallels, he wrote, “Don’t forget we made all that up, though.” Another user remarked that Iannucci was “continuing to predict our political reality,” to which he replied, “Still working on the ending.”