Game of Thrones' Returns as Mother of Ratings - Update
16 April 2019 - 8:40AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
A record 17.4 million people tuned in Sunday night for the
beginning of the end of HBO's "Game of Thrones," according to
Nielsen and the network.
The show, which entered its eighth and final season this week,
is the most popular show in HBO's history, topping the mafia drama
"The Sopranos."
The figure will likely grow significantly when viewing from
digital video recorders and on-demand as well as catch-up viewing
on HBO are added in. The last season of "Game of Thrones" averaged
32.8 million viewers across all platforms.
The 17.4 million figure, which is a record for a premiere on the
network, includes streaming on the HBO Go and HBO Now platforms.
HBO Now, which is the channel's direct-to-consumer brand saw a 97%
jump compared with the season seven premiere.
Even a nearly two-year break between fresh episodes wasn't
enough to keep fans away. Sunday's premiere was up 8% from the
season seven premiere in July 2017, which averaged 16.1 million
viewers.
The "Game of Thrones" numbers are impressive in today's
fragmented media landscape where viewers have myriad of options.
When the long-running sitcom "M*A*S*H" went off the air in 1983
when there were only three major broadcast networks, 105 million
people watched. More recent finales of popular shows are more in
line with the viewership of "Game of Thrones." The last episode of
CBS's "Everybody Loves Raymond" averaged 32.9 million in 2005.
The 17.4 million viewers for the linear showing is bigger than
the majority of entertainment shows on broadcast and commercial
cable television, despite the fact that HBO is available in about
one-third as many homes. When ABC brought back "Roseanne" last
season, its first episode averaged 18 million viewers.
Shows that can command such a large live viewership are usually
limited to big sporting events or awards programs. "Game of
Thrones" is one of the few remaining so-called water-cooler
programs that fans feel a need to watch when the episode airs. Last
night's episode also gave a boost to the HBO comedies "Veep" and
"Barry."
HBO, a unit of AT&T Inc., is developing potential "Game of
Thrones" prequels.
On HBO's linear channel, the episode averaged 11.8 million
viewers, a jump of 16% from the season seven premiere. The 11.8
million figure was off 2.5% from the season seven finale, which HBO
attributed to the fact that satellite broadcaster Dish Network
isn't currently carrying the channel because of a contract
dispute.
The finale of "Game of Thrones" is scheduled for May 19.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2019 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
AT&T (NYSE:T)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
AT&T (NYSE:T)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024