'House of the Dragon' Draws Biggest Audience Ever for HBO Original Series Debut

The premiere of HBO's "House of the Dragon" set the TV ratings on fire.

The “Game of Thrones” prequel series launched Sunday to 9.986 million (you can call it 10 million) cross-platform viewers, a significant increase from the O.G. the very start of the show. Of course, “GoT” debuted over a decade ago with very little built-in fanfare – and in a very different viewership environment – ​​because only fans of George R.R. Martin’s books really knew the material before. the start. That would soon change, and "Game of Thrones" ended up as HBO's most-watched show.

Well, "House of the Dragon" also has a better claim: Sunday's debut marked the highest ratings for any new original series in HBO history, according to HBO.

"It was wonderful to see millions of 'Game of Thrones' fans return with us to Westeros last night. 'House of the Dragon' features an incredibly talented cast and crew who put all their heart and soul into the production, and we're thrilled with the positive response from viewers," Casey Bloys, HBO and HBO Max's Chief Content Officer, said on Monday Night Numbers. "We look forward to sharing with the public. what else George, Ryan and Miguel have in store for them this season."

The first episode of "Game of Thrones" attracted 4.152 million "live" viewers in 2011. Including HBO Go and counting approximately 90 days after the series premiere, Season 1 episodes totaled an average of 9.305 million viewers each. (HBO Now didn't hit the scene until "Game of Thrones" Season 5 premiered. Now launched in April 2015; HBO Max essentially took over in May 2020, though Now and Go was recently reinstated .)

"Game of Thrones" was one of those shows that grew and grew. The Season 2 premiere brought in 6.278 million nightly viewers, and the season's cross-platform gross (again, including roughly three months of viewership beyond the season premiere) was 11.583 million. Season 3 started with 6.718 million Live + Same Day viewers, but ended up totaling 14.352 million per episode with that generous catch-up viewing, which is how HBO measures its programming these days. The third season of "Game of Thrones" included the infamous "Red Wedding" episode.

Season 4 (still without HBO Now) launched to 8.186 million viewers; upon completion, episodes averaged 19.073 million viewers on HBO linear and HBO Go streaming. This was the season the show's finales began to overtake premieres in date viewing: the Season 4 finale recorded 9.325 million "live" viewers.

Season 5 of “Thrones,” which eventually included HBO Now, initially bowed to 9.773 million Live + Same Day viewers. As of the finale, the fifth season episodes averaged 20.231 million cross-platform viewers. The Season 6 premiere of "Game of Thrones" drew 10.735 million viewers. The cross-platform gross for this season was 25.690 million.

Season 7 surged again, with 16.603 million premiere viewers and a season gross of 32.758 million. The final season of "Game of Thrones", Season 8, premiered to 17.915 million viewers. Overall revenue per episode was 45.985 million viewers.

If you're wondering, no, “The Sopranos” isn't HBO's second most-watched series on a season-by-season basis — at least, not since its fifth season. Since 2004 (the finale of the "Sopranos" broadcast on June 10, 2007), the year cited by HBO in a recent press release, the silver medal belongs to season 2 of "Euphoria". The Zendaya vehicle even aired only 19 episodes in total, but the overall access to HBO's programming through the advent and adoption of streaming is far greater.

Episode 1 of "The House of the Dragon" introduced the family of King Viserys Targaryen and the question of his succession. And yes, there were dragons.

New episodes of "House of the Dragon" will debut every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max, until the finale on October 23.

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