Game of Thrones and its Season 8 premiere episode completely shattered ratings record. The HBO high-fantasy drama reached an impressive 17.4 million viewers on Sunday evening, combined with repeat airings and some streaming services. This has become HBO’s biggest telecast in history as well as the most-watched scripted entertainment program this year, outpacing The Big Bang Theory‘s 14.1 million views in February. For comparison, Game of Thrones‘ previous record–the Season 7 finale from two years ago–reached 16.9 million viewers. HBO attained this feat despite losing Dish subscribers last December, otherwise the company believed it would’ve had a bigger record. Certain streaming partners like Amazon and Hulu weren’t counted in this initial round-up of viewers either.
In other Game of Thrones news, check out HBO’s “Inside the Episode” for the premiere.
