Topline
The premiere of House Of The Dragon, a Game Of Thrones spin-off series, earned 9.986 million viewers Sunday, making it the largest premiere in HBO history, the network said Monday.
A shot of the “Game Of Thrones” spin-off “House Of The Dragon.”
Key Facts
Samba TV, an audience analytics company, estimated the episode reached 2.6 million households, and had the largest premiere of the year so far on premium cable or streaming.
House Of The Dragon’s premiere was larger than the same-day Season 2 debut of Euphoria, which HBO said reached 2.4 million viewers, and was also double the first-day numbers of the same-day viewership Season 4 premiere of Netflix’s Stranger Things, according to Samba TV.
Nielsen has not yet released data on the House Of The Dragon premiere.
A viral video posted to Twitter showed the windows of an apartment building in New York City, a majority of which appeared to be watching the episode.
Key Background
Game Of Thrones aired on HBO from 2011 to 2019, and was one of the network’s most popular series. House Of The Dragon is a prequel to it, and is also based on novels by George R.R. Martin. The series stars Matt Smith (The Crown), Emily D’Arcy and Olivia Kate Cooke (Bates Motel). HBO committed its largest marketing budget ever, $100 million, to the show’s rollout, according to Deadline.
Further Reading
Streaming Viewership Surpasses Cable For First Time, Nielsen Says (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/08/22/house-of-the-dragon-episode-was-largest-cable-or-streaming-premiere-of-the-year-samba-tv-says/