We’ve all been wondering if the new Targaryen dragons of House of the Dragon would land with a splash or a thud, after the controversial finale of Game of Thrones left fans swearing off Westeros for good. Would audiences tune in for a show containing no beloved GoT characters? We now have the answer: hell yeah they will! And in record-setting numbers, it turns out.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news today that the series premiere brought in “nearly 10 million viewers across all platforms in the United States” per HBO, making it the biggest series premiere in HBO history.
THR notes that HOTD has also brought in the largest single-night HBO audience since the Game of Thrones finale drew 19.3 million viewers in May 2019.
Where does that put HOTD really? Can we compare a new show to the original? We can’t compare the first episode to GoT‘s first episode ratings back in 2011 (2.22 million same-day viewers, per Nielsen), because of course GoT built the fanbase up and we expect much better than 2011 ratings for HOTD. Perhaps a more noteworthy ratings milestone would would be Season 7’s premiere “Dragonstone,” which at the time broke GoT‘s ratings record by achieving just over 10 million viewers for its overnight figures. Additional viewings and DVR numbers did increase those numbers, however.
We can expect more detailed ratings news over the next few days, as the show rolls out internationally and on more platforms. It’ll be fun to see what the final figure is on the premiere! Either way- it’s a hit! That season two order should be official any minute now.
