By The “Game of Thrones” spin-off series “House of the Dragon” returned to HBO and Max on Sunday night and pulled in a Live+Same Day audience of 7.8 million viewers.
That puts the premiere 22% below the 10 million viewers that witnessed the “Game of Thrones” prequel series launch on its opening night in 2022. The first season peaked with 10.2 million for its second episode before falling to 9.3 million for its finale.
The first season of ‘Dragon’ ended up averaging 29 million cross-platform viewers per episode, the largest viewership for any HBO series since “Game of Thrones” ended.
However that record was shattered last year when “The Last of Us” surpassed it to average better than 30 million viewers per episode in its first season run. A second season of that is currently in production and expected to air early next year.
All other HBO shows pale in comparison – “True Detective: Night Country” averaged about 13 million cross-platform viewers per episode, the second season of “The White Lotus” was at 10.1 million, and the final season of “Succession” averaged just 8.7 million.
Much of the “House of the Dragon” second season premiere decline came from linear viewing as according to Nielsen, around 1 million fewer viewers tuned in via HBO’s cable channel.
Despite that linear channel’s decline, the episode still led Max to its biggest streaming day ever both in the U.S. and worldwide with the SVOD service reportedly racking up its biggest single day globally since its launch.
Source: THR
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