HBO had nearly 10 million viewers for the premiere of ‘House of the Dragon’
House of the Dragon is off to a flying start on HBO. The prequel to Game of Thrones saw nearly 10 million viewers tune in for the series premiere on Sunday, across several platforms, including HBO Max. It was the biggest audience that HBO had ever seen for a new original series.
The premiere also drew what HBO termed an unprecedented level of concurrent streams on their platform, having launched the series in the US, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa simultaneously. Under usual circumstances, the typical audience on a Sunday night would be just 20-40 per cent of what it achieved with House of the Dragon.
The series debut also smashed the figures for the debut of Game of Thrones by nearly 350 per cent. However, back in 2011, HBO Max did not exist, and the prequel’s success is undoubtedly indebted to the original series’ popularity. The Game of Thrones 2019 finale made records when 19.3 million viewers tuned in across all platforms, including HBO Max and the now-defunct HBO Go.
Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer at HBO, said, “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 poured their heart and soul into the production”.
He added, “And we’re ecstatic with viewers’ positive response. We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan, and Miguel have in store for them this season”.
House of the Dragon was the most extended trending topic on Twitter on the day of its release, ranking in the top spot for 14 consecutive hours. Game of Thrones had also proven popular in the run-up to the new series premiere, with streaming figures showing it had a 90% rise in viewers compared to June.
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