Milly Alcock as Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO’s “House of the Dragon”, a prequel to “Game of Thrones”.
Discovery of Warner Bros.
HBO’s “House of the Dragon” has some pretty big shoes to fill, following in the footsteps of the “Game of Thrones” super hit. Apparently, fans of the sublime fantasy series were at least curious enough to watch the first episode of the series, which led to the biggest series premiere in HBO’s history.
On Monday, Warner Bros. Discovery has revealed that 9,986 million viewers across linear platforms and HBO Max tuned in to watch the first episode of the prequel series on Sunday night. This is the largest audience of any new original series in HBO’s history, the company said.
The company says Sunday night viewership for an HBO series typically accounts for about 20% to 40% of the show’s total audience.
“It was amazing to see millions of ‘Game of Thrones’ fans join us back in Westeros last night,” said Casey Bloys, director of content for HBO and HBO Max. HBO and HBO Max.
“House of the Dragon” tells the story of the Targaryen Civil War that took place some 200 years before the events depicted in “Game of Thrones.” It is based on the novel “Fire and Blood” by George RR Martin. Unlike Martin’s other books in the “Song of Ice and Fire” series, this one features an omniscient narrator who chronicles history based on collected accounts of events. In some cases, these stories contradict each other and there are multiple versions of events.
The stakes are high for “House of the Dragon,” which airs on HBO and HBO Max as newly minted CEO David Zaslav is looking for fat to trim. Cost-cutting measures that have become the norm at the recently merged company include layoffs and the removal of content from HBO Max.
When Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to save money, it’s also looking to consolidate its streaming services, something that will be costly and time consuming.
“House of the Dragon,” just the second entrant in the Game of Thrones series, has a lot to prove and to live for. The final season of “Game of Thrones” left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans, as the showrunners wrote in addition to the events in the documentary created by author Martin, who has yet to finish the story in his book. me.
“House of the Dragon” has an 83% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 413 reviews, as of Monday afternoon. For comparison, the first season of “Game of Thrones” released in 2011 had a “Fresh” rating of 90%. In fact, every season except the last had a scoring rate above 90%. Season eight generated a 55% rating.
Analysts, investors, and most importantly, executives at Warner Bros. Discovery will be interested in monitoring the viewership metrics of “House of the Dragon” in the near-term to see if it can maintain its momentum throughout the 10 episodes.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. Rotten Tomatoes is owned by NBCUniversal.
