News/Ratings

Over 25 million watched each S6 episode of Game of Thrones!

Posted on by Hear Marko Roar
Boom!
Boom!

Tuesday is the day for numbers, so let’s keep it that way. HBO has announced that season 6 episodes averaged 25.1 million viewers! Let’s just have the press release speak for itself. 

GAME OF THRONES highly anticipated sixth season conquered all previous seasons with episodes averaging 25.1 million viewers to-date (linear Plays + DVR + HBO On Demand + HBO GO/HBO NOW). That’s approximately five million viewers more when compared to last year’s average (20.2 million). Viewing on HBO’s Digital Platforms comprise almost 40% of season six total viewing, with HBO GO and HBO NOW up a combined 91% vs. last season. Overall, GAME OF THRONES continued its reign as the most watched HBO series on record.

Crazy. That’s a 25% increase over last year. No doubt the digital platforms contributed a lot to it, with almost double the views this year. The 40% share of  digital audience is reportedly at the high end of what HBO programming achieved, but seems typical of the most popular shows.

It’s hard to predict what will happen next. Most importantly, we all want a great season seven. Numbers come second.

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45 Comments

  4. Game of Thrones viewing figures are in and it’s safe to say this has been the biggest series ever.

    The HBO epic which was shown on Sky in the UK attracted a record number of viewers for its sixth season.

    An average of five million people alone watched GoT on Sky platforms, according to the Guardian, which is a 41 per cent increase on previous series.

    There were an incredible 16 millions streams on Sky Box Sets, making it the broadcaster’s most popular TV series ever.

    Each episode has broken the 5 million viewer mark with figures from Sky Go and Now TV taken into account.

    But while the penultimate and final episodes have received gushing reviews and widespread acclaim, neither The Battle of the Bastards or The Winds of Winter came out on top as the most-viewed episode of the season.

    It was in fact episode four – Book of Stanger – which saw a record 5.24 million viewers tune in.

    For those with short memories that’s the one where we saw the reunion between Jon Snow and Sansa Stark and when Daenerys Targaryen burned down the Dothraki chieftains’ hut with them locked inside and emerged defiant and naked from the flames.

    Sky Atlantic director Zai Bennett said: “It’s an amazing phenomenon, particularly when you consider that we are in half of the homes in the UK and it’s quite an adult, grown-up piece of television.

    “When I arrived (two years since) we had 20% growth in its audience and I thought that can’t carry on, but it has. It’s insane.”

    http://www.joe.co.uk/entertainment/this-is-how-many-british-people-watched-game-of-thrones-epic-sixth-series/71545

  5. That’s insane! And as far as I know pretty unprecedented. Usually viewing numbers go down when it’s this far into the series or at least stay level. Or only go up high when its the end of a series like Breaking Bad. But GoT continues to grow even in it’s sixth season.

    I guess it’s because you know it is really working towards an endgame and it really is one huge story. This season really enforced that. And unlike most shows, it doesn’t feel like they are making it up as they go along.

    Apollo,

    CrazyHorse,

    After “The Door” it’s just not the same anymore I guess.

  8. And those are the legit numbers, not even adding the different streams which the HBO seems to be ok with. (And torrents of course)

  9. I guess on-line viewership may top 50% next season taking into account it’s going to air in summer and open a new page in the TV history as such, especially if legal access is promoted throughout the world. Let’s be frank: many viewers stream the show from pirate sites only because they have no legal access or because legal access becomes available much later – some 24 hours after the initial airing while pirate sites were providing episodes some 4 to 6 hours after initial airing (and Youtube had the most impressive pieces of the episodes in an hour or two). So, a legal on-line viewership has a tremendous growth potential and HBO should use the momentum IMHO.

  10. I’m not a big fan of numbers, but I have to say that I’m truly, truly impressed. It says alot about our favorite show that they have grown substantially since S1. Great job!!

  12. This is awesome. And truly deserving for the best season yet… so I am so happy!

    This is only in the United States, correct?
    I wonder if there are numbers out there for Canada. I am very curious.

  13. This is great, the massive climb in Digital numbers could be perhaps be considered for most but

    It makes the Live Cable figures that consistently stayed high and pushed the boundaries of previous seasons (except US Memorial Day w/e) all the more impressive given we basically had the digital platform poaching from and accounting for the growth of many new viewers which would have acted as a form of drag on the Live Cable figures

    Thanks for posting these throughout the season, always curious to see how the momentum of interest is

    Part of the story of course is converting viewers who were once pirating due to a preference for online platform into more legitimised HBO Now/Go viewers

  14. Apollo:
    Wow.

    PS… Are we still Hodoring?

    I hope not. Why not start a new trend? Like someone else posted. After The Door, it is a brave wonderful thing that Hodor did, rather than some race to see who can make the first post. But there are many many themes that run through GoT’s, maybe a new one can few found that is more appropriate.

    /just my opinion

    Congratulations to Game of Thrones for the best season ever and seems most everyone agrees.

  15. If I wasn’t lazy I’d go back and find my prediction for the total number. I know I said somewhere around 25 million.

    Anyway, a pretty poorly plotted season is being called the best season by a lot of those millions so… I suppose season 7 could have no plot and just mind-numbing action and it would be declared the greatest 7 hours in the history of history.

  16. GeekFurious,
    Anyway, a pretty poorly plotted season is being called the best season by a lot of those millions so…

    In other news, shocking studies have found that human beings sometimes have different opinions about things! Film at 11:00!

  18. Why not do this next season as a mini-series? I would much rather get four-ish, one-and-a-half to two-hour-long “movies” than 7 sub-60-minute episodes. The pacing could be so much better. I’d rather the episodes be the length of mini-series episodes. That way they could finish up the last two seasons in a grander fashion. I would imagine a lot of it is climactic battles. There can’t be much in the way of plot setup at this point. We’ve had 6 amazing seasons of that. It’s war now.

  19. GeekFurious,

    I am one of those empty headed millions 😉
    Hope season 7 is the same

    I would love to see what you would have had in mind for season 6 and for future seasons, at a point in the story where things must come to an end and there will be less build up and more results.

    Please stop thinking you are smarter than others.

  20. GeekFurious,

    Yep, probably. 🙂
    Although, it seems like the finale is actually being praised by a majority as the best episode, and other than the big explosion it’s pretty action-free.
    —————
    I’ve never been big into watching episode reaction videos on Youtube but I watched every one I could find for the finale. It’s amazing that many of them have 100k, 200k or more views. I guess that’s a reflection of this 25 million… Many people want to see if others reacted in a similar fashion I guess.

  24. Dee Stark,

    Better yet, it’s the best thing I have ever watched on television. The opening sequence, the whole build-up to the explsion was amazing.

  25. Rhaenys Stark,

    SAME!

    The Wolves of Winter,

    Most definitely!
    I went on vacation in Lebanon shortly after the finale and the first few days that’s all my cousins and I would talk about.

    And there were two occasions at the pool/beach where I over heard people sitting close by talking about the show

  26. Rhaenys Stark,

    Dee Stark,

    Haha, me too! After BoB I thought GoT can’t get any better and then 6×10 came along.

    It’s amazing the impact the show has worldwide. Really curious what the worldwide numbers are. Both legal and illegal.

  29. Clob:
    GeekFurious,

    Yep, probably.
    Although, it seems like the finale is actually being praised by a majority as the best episode, and other than the big explosion it’s pretty action-free.

    I loved 6.10. It is definitely my favorite finale episode… and probably a top 10 episode of the series (maybe top 5).

  30. Rhaenys Stark:
    Dee Stark,

    Mine as well And 6×09 is my 2nd favorite!

    I couldn’t find anything I wanted to watch last night so once again I watched episodes 9 & 10 through fully like a movie. Simply fantastic no matter how many times I watch.

  32. Wow! Those numbers are beyond impressive. The continuing (and continuing to grow) success of the show puts a big smile on my face. 🙂

  33. Clob,

    Haha I’ve done this too. My mum, who has never, even once in her life, watched a tv episode or movie twice, watched 6×09 for the forth time last night 😀 She loves it!

  36. Clob: I couldn’t find anything I wanted to watch last night so once again I watched episodes 9 & 10 through fully like a movie.Simply fantastic no matter how many times I watch.

    If they hold a screening of these two episodes, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

  37. it’s Game of Fucking thrones, I expect nothing less of my favorite show of television.
    the wait shouldn’t be bad,
    WatchersontheWall, Re Watching game of thrones and breaking bad, and a ton of gaming XD
    Boom, Season 7 will be here in no time XD
    plus Award shows 😀

  38. Clob: I couldn’t find anything I wanted to watch last night so once again I watched episodes 9 & 10 through fully like a movie.Simply fantastic no matter how many times I watch.

    I did this too a few nights ago! It was like watching a movie/sequel. I loved it. Best ep9-10 combination ever!

    So happy my fave show is getting all the love it deserves.

  41. Sam: I did this too a few nights ago! It was like watching a movie/sequel. I loved it. Best ep9-10 combination ever!

    So happy my fave show is getting all the love it deserves.

    Now if only they’d do an IMAX showing of those two eps. I’d rather see that than any movie coming out any time soon.

  42. GeekFurious,

    Not exactly.

    So, my prediction is we will see the first four episodes reach 30 million. Is that an insane number? Yes. But a free month is a free month.

    The first 6 averaged 23.4. The season overall was 25.1.

  45. I knew the numbers would be out the box but this is just more than impressive. Good for you HBO. Im not a huge fan of HBO but I have to give them credit where it’s due. This is by far the BEST show I’ve ever watched as an adult for pure entertainment and escapism. LOVE is a word so overused and so inadequate in trying to pinpoint my feelings on how much this show means to me. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it.

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