HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, is putting up big viewership numbers. According to Variety, the show is now averaging 29 million viewers per episode in the US. This counts viewership across cable TV, HBO Max, and all other places where people can watch HBO content.
Forbes reported that the original Game of Thrones picked up an average of 9.3 million viewers per episode in 2011 for its debut season. Importantly, though, that was a decade ago when there was no HBO Max. George R.R. Martin had published some of the A Song of Ice and Fire books, but the fantasy series overall was new to many and didn’t have the cultural significance that is has now thanks to the Game of Thrones show.
Game of Thrones ended its run with an average of 44 million viewers per episode in its eighth and final season in 2019. The spinoff series, House of the Dragon, was never expected to perform as well as the main show. This is something that series star Matt Smith previously spoke about.