Once more it’s Tuesday and once more we have the viewership numbers from Sunday night, courtesy of SpoilerTV. Game of Thrones 604 ‘Book of the Stranger’ was seen by 7.82 million viewers, which is considerably higher than in the past two weeks – second highest this season since the premiere, actually (7.94).
Incidentally, this is exactly a million more compared to last years fourth episode (504 ‘Sons of the Harpy’). As per the usual, Game of Thrones was by far the most watched Sunday programme.
So far, these weekly numbers have shown consistency in staying between the 7 and 8 million marks, which indicates an increase over last year – which is quite a feat for a show in its sixth season. At the same time, the word on the UK numbers is that they tell the same story: this is the most watched Game of Thrones season to date.
Wylis!
Doom!! Gloom!! The show is dying!! Season 5 killed the show!!
On a more serious note, this is great! Better then S5 on every episode. I think will break the record with EP9 or 10.
Tormund!
Most watched and best Season to date (So far). I’m absolutely loving every moment.
The introduction of HBO Now has to be helping. They’re able to count people like me now, who don’t have cable service and are internet-only viewers. My only option before was crappy pirated streams. Now I can watch it on Apple TV in 1080p.
https://corporate.sky.com/media-centre/news-page/2016/game-of-thrones-season-six-breaks-viewing-records
Note: Those totals do not include the repeat showings or the streamed NowTV or mobile app service. For comparison 2.47 million watched the premiere using the same limited criteria of not including repeated broadcasts or streaming.
There were just under 5 million viewings of the premiere with all modes taken into account,
Ser Not Appearing in this Series,
Thanks, I’ll add the link.
They belong together: http://imgur.com/zPdW7pP
Well, people picked a good one to tune into.
Good news!
I know many people who don’t even like the show but watched the episode because of the Stark reunion.
And Dany finally doing something cool this season was a bonus.
Dracarys, baby!
Absolutely thrilled. Honestly. It deserves it, season five was a little bumpy at the start there’s no denying it but I am so glad season 6 is being rewarded for the great quality.
I do believe if screeners of the first four episodes were sent to critics to be reviewed, we would be on 95+ metacritic, not a 73.
L.,
These are figures for initial airing . People watching this episode would have no idea what would happen in this episode. If anything, this figure is an indication that people liked ep 3.
Stark reunion <3
Just imagine all those viewing parties, too. Can’t wait to see what the totals are.
I knew Torienne would fly !!!
Give love a chance !
This season is being AWESOME so far, loving it.
Icing on the cake for dany fans tbh. Her story wasn’t moving, but when it did, it did!
yayy!! even more awesome sets and vfx next time!!!
Loving it! It’s clear now that the Live+SD linear viewership for the show will stay above 7 million for almost every episode this season (the lone potential exception could be Episode 6, which will air on Memorial Day Weekend here in the United States). It may not be the most important number, but it’s fun to talk about nonetheless. I think the finale may well set a new series high – which is incredible for a show in its sixth season.
I can’t wait to see just how high the viewership totals are across all platforms once those numbers finally trickle out. It seems certain that this will be the most-watched season of Game of Thrones, with a cumulative legal audience of well above 20 million. Just how high above 20 million? Who knows? The sky’s the limit. 🙂
So happy that GoT is rewarded with phenomenal viewership numbers. I was not sure if it would top the viewership numbers of season 5 knowing that they usually decline in later seasons.
Personally, I love season 6 so far and it rivals season 4 as my favourite season.
I think this will be the best season of GoT yet. When you compare it with the first 4 episodes of every season before, for me this is just better.
S4 had a really great start, but E3 and E4 in that season are not as good as E3 and E4 this season.
I hope that last 13 episodes will have the same momentum.
Awesome stuff. This season has reached new levels of brilliant and has been amazing.
r-hard,
Ice and fire.
Reminds me of a song I heard once 😐
I am so with all of you. I have enjoyed GOT immensely over the years, even if at time I felt it was a bit off (Dorne) or made me “hurry-up-and-wait” (Dany), but I’ve still enjoyed it. D&D have hit the floor running and the latest episode had me feeling like I was missing little things and I’ve watched it 3 times…lol.
So glad that the fact those of us who are streaming now and not paying for cable are counted by having HBONow.
Great season to date…can’t wait to see next episode.
How could it be anything less then awesome? They have had 5 years to perfect the system and it looks like this season has paid off in big numbers for the quality and perfectionism they require. Im just so hyped about the rest of the season.. this is by far for me one of the BEST seasons if not “the” best. Im kinda partial to Season 1 bc it was really the catalyst for everyone to fall in love with the series. But wow.. this year is just hands down AMAZING!! Keep up the great work D&D. Just one request now that you have brought JS back.. can we please have Gendry and The Hound back too? Paaaaaaaaaalease?
I concur
Well with the exception of the wacky Dorne stuff in the first episode, this has been a stronger season than the last one.
…and given that we haven’t seen Dorne again many increasingly suspect that those scenes were them outright “throwing out” the Dorne subplot as quickly as possible, as a failed experiment. But Sue and others have said this already. Even within the premiere episode itself that was so weird – it was great up until the Dorne part….then snapped back to being good again in subsequent scenes.
(shrug)
Kingsmoot 2016!
Make the Iron Islands great again!
The Dragon Demands,
Kingsmoot 2016!
Make the Iron Islands great again!
That’s one political voting I’m seriously not upset about…ha.
Top 10 episode viewership all seasons:
1. S05E10: Mother’s Mercy: 8.11 million
2. S05E01: The Wars to Come: 8.00 million
3. S06E01: The Red Woman: 7.94 million
4. S06E04: Book of the Stranger: 7.82 million
5. S06E02: Home: 7.29 million
6. S06E03: Oathbreaker: 7.28 million
7. S04E07: Mockingbird: 7.20 million
8. S04E08: The Mountain and the Viper: 7.17 million
9. S04E05: First of His Name: 7.16 million
10. S05E09: The Dance of Dragons: 7.14 million
Season 6 is growing strong!! GoT is more alive than ever!
Dutch Maester,
Oh yes, I like this. We shall exceed last season’s finale, it is known!
Jack Bauer 24,
It has! I am loving it so far, much better than last season. Hype for Bran’s big White Walker vision next week!
Ice Spider,
Season 1 will always be my sentimental favorite, for sure. But seeing all of these characters who have been so far flung from each theory since the beginning starting to converge is amping up everything for me. Hard to pick a favorite anything!
This season has been absolutely amazing.Congrats to david and dan and to all the people involved for making such a quality product.I can’t believe it grows in viewership in its sixth season what show can do that?It’s great
Yara: “I claim the salt throne!”
Euron: “I AM the salt throne!”
Cathair,
I agree with you, the season would have a higher score if they’d sent out the screeners and that 73 would be a 93 (maybe). Sad thing is, that just reflects the score for the 1° episode and this season will be the lowest.
(But who cares)
While there have been episodes in the series that I’ve enjoyed less than most, I have loved the entire thing so much. ALL shows have lesser episodes without exception. For me however GoT’s ‘worst’ episodes are still good in the big picture and while not making comparisons. I watch most of each episode many times every week during the seasons (nearly four full times of this week’s already along with many, many replays of the opening and final scenes).
Having said all that, in my opinion this season has started out at least as strong as any other, if not the strongest. Most of the complaints seem to have gone from disliked changes from the books to events happening in ways different than envisioned or expected. I do my best to ignore those as much as possible. I’ve seen a lot of theories and ideas from people of what should happen that are beyond stupid, but when it happens differently then the episode sucked.
Cathair mentioned the current metacritic score above… So far that 73 is coming from just 9 critics reviews that were all posted for the season premiere only so I don’t put any weight in it – not that I ever would. One of the nine gave the premiere a score of 50.
LOL
He’s probably also the walrus.
The viewership for Episode 9 may just break 8 million or better
Dutch Maester,
funny though that Hardhome was one of the better episodes of season 5
This season is going magnificently so far … I really hope they do like last year and show the season finale (69 minutes!) on movie screens!!
More IMAX viewings would be awesome too!!
Ratings will obviously be lower in 2 weeks for Memorial Day weekend.
Do you have data on viewership from other countries? The show is such a worldwide phenomenon now, it would be interesting to see how well it fares overseas
The Bastard,
I agree.
Great stuff
Fantastic to hear
Good news about this is they should justify a larger budget for more epic seasons 7 & 8, either on scale or perhaps they’ll be able to justify scale + pushing them out to not being as short as they are projecting them to be
Think there’s a good chance it will push past the 8 million mark for the later episodes of the season
Wish they’d skip Memorial Day as they used to do? I could totally wait one more week to watch the episode and it would feel like the season was longer Lol
Records also broken in Australia where it airs on Foxtel.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/game-of-thrones-smashes-ratings/news-story/68b1700d5776e90eddd006b61bb7951b
Like the UK it’s not so easy to get right up to date information – we are not so ratings obsessed outside the USA!
Best episode of this season, so far, imo. 🙂
And Tormund+Brienne is the best love story ever! 😀
Definetly the best season so far in terms of entertainment value and production value not best in terms of screenplay or character moments but ive had 4 seasons of character moments im ready for the blockbuster finale for the last 3 or 4
So, Sweetrobin = Ratings?
Honestly, if I had to guess as to a reason for the sudden ratings bump, I’d say that more people are tuning in with the anticipation of seeing R+L=J finally confirmed. The downside to that is that some fans will start to get PISSED if the show doesn’t reveal this, like, this week. It could get ugly if this gets dragged out any more than it already has been.
RBloodworth,
I think it will be E6.
RBloodworth,
I think it has a lot more to do with resurrected Jon Snow than with the Tower of Joy.
I know a LOT of people that watched this episode alone after hearing that Jon and Sansa might be reunited. I imagine that for a lot of people who might have dropped the show over the past few seasons (for whatever the reason), the Starks are gonna be who they associate with the show or remember most fondly from it. If other Stark reunions are guessed/implied ahead of airing for episodes that aren’t one of the big ones (e.g. eps 1, 9, 10), it would be interesting to see if those episodes also see decent increases.
“The first one and the last one”
House Tyrell fan, are we?
Hi, Icy! Based on filming spoilers, we should have
It’s really the best season so far in my opinion. And note that these are only a fraction of the total viewership numbers, since so many people, including me, don’t have access to HBO.
Viewers don’t always know how awesome an episode will be before it airs, and these are all first viewing numbers, not including those who watch later. So, as someone said, these numbers might be better indicators for how well the previous few episodes have gone or for expectations for that episode. For example, premieres and finales generally do better, but there was a lot of hype for the Mountain and the Viper, one of the few episodes where we knew a big showdown was coming. We knew there would be a big fight sequence at Hardhome, but I’m not sure we knew how great the episode would be until it aired.
A better (though imperfect) measure for how good any particular episode is would be the likability ratings: http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0944947. Hardhome and the Red Wedding (Rains of Castamere) beat all others, hands down, in this rating, which makes sense to me. (Book of the Stranger is close, which is awesome, but these ratings do tend to fall for a couple of months after they air. Graph TV updates sometime on Mondays, and this episode has already fallen to 9.3 since then.)
Kargaryen,
Because of the late start that would put the season finale on 4th of July weekend which would be worse.
I think there is still a shot for us returning to the tower for “The Door.” I know Bran will see Other things in this episode, but he could be busy. After all, “Bran learns a great deal.” I cannot imagine Bran wanting to go somewhere else before finishing that scene. It would be strange to break it up within the continuity of Bran’s storyline – strange, but not impossible. So I’m hoping there is a 50:50 chance.
Jared,
Maybe everyone will rush home from their vacations to watch it, you know I am!!!! Sedona Az yeehaw!! Buy Jon Snow is a must!!!
Ginevra,
RBloodworth,
Honestly, as a non book reader (and part of the majority of the audience I guess) I do not really care about the R+L thing. Actually I happen to know of it because I visit here but I am certain that most of the unsullied viewers have not really thought about it.
Addy Stark,
Per Wiki, looks like the final episode will air on 6/26, before the July 4th weekend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_%28season_6%29
Sou,
I dunno about that. I’ve seen plenty of non-book readers come up with the theory on their own, and it’s always this epiphany where you can see the moment it all comes together in their head. Then it’s THE theory that comes up first if anyone is remotely curious about looking into theories. And then it came up even more as one of the loose ends that all but guaranteed Jon would come back.
I suspect one reason the reveal is being held off is that it’s going to come in the episode that finishes off the last few plot points that will come from the books. It would be a nice way to show how everyone is finally on the same page.
So while I’m sure you’re right that plenty of non-readers aren’t aware of enough details to be specifically looking forward to the reveal, I suspect a lot of those folks who have been paying attention have an inkling that there is one more Big Thing readers (and D&D) are itching to see before the uncharted end-game. With the first ToJ scene telegraphing that Bran needs to be super ready before learning that bit of information, one need not have thought about it much to guess how important it is.
Dragged? Lmao!!! My friend let me introduce you to the books.
If you are a book reader than 2-3 weeks more to find out further about the Tower Of Joy is nothing. Relax.
Cathair,
The 73 on Metacritic is outrageous lol. They should really update the score based on reviews of later episodes. As it stands the Metacritic score only reflects what 9 critics thought of the first episode, not a fair assessment of the season. Previous seasons had like 25 to 30 critics’ reviews of several episodes. I really don’t see how a season of GoT can be below 90.
Normally, by the sixth season, the critics have started to shit on a show and the audience has started to tune out. The fact that GOT is still doing fairly well with critics and still gaining viewers proves one thing:
D&D’s decision to dumb the show down so even a moron can digest the genius that is George RR Martin was the right move.
The show is well into its sixth season and still going strong!
I’ve been enjoying it so much so far… The only “complaint” I have is the dialogue, I don’t find it as intriguing as past steasons but against there the visual effects keep getting better.
A bit off topic but I saw other people bring it up… Are we getting ToJ this week or the next?
I’m prone to believe it will be in episode 6 due to the title “Blood of my blood”, in which case it would refer to Jon’s bloodline.
And while I’m at it… When do you think we’ll get the Drogon scene from the trailer? I have no idea when that’s going to happen and as I rewatched the trailer I got the feeling the Dothraki were about to fight just before Drogon showed up, might it be?
I’m not expecting TOJ until the end of the season. There would be no reason to give that up until the end since they’re already doing all the big fan service moments this season that will not be in the books.
Could it be this coming week? Sure. But I think it’s more likely they give us some other big reveal that has nothing to do with TOJ.
King Podrick,
Oh, I’ve read the books. What I meant by my comment is that there are book readers (let’s face it; most casual show-watchers don’t know or care about R+L=J) who have been waiting literally DECADES to have this theory confirmed that will lose their minds if the show keeps dragging out the revelation over a course of weeks.
Connor,
So Yara will be sitting on Euron’s lap henceforth.
It is a big thing for the readers, but I get his point. The show has occasionally had characters in conversation about Jon’s mother and even periodically thrown out some tidbits that may be hints, but it hasn’t been very focused on since early season one. For an unsullied, casual viewer that has no knowledge of theories, I don’t know if the show has made it important enough for them to think or care about it much. Yet
I’d laugh my ass off if he never comes back but for the hell of it D&D throw in a series finale post-credits scene of long-bearded Gendry rowing in the middle of the sea chanting to himself, “Don’t fall out. Don’t fall out.”
I am so happy this show is doing so well. 🙂
Angela,
aren’t we all ^^
Awesome ratings! 😀
As a non-book reader, I am only mildly interested in Jon’s parentage, and I do believe that the vast majority of the audience is like me. It’s not like the most important thing eveeeeerrrrr in the series for me. 😀
I expect (and had hoped), next episode, or whenever Daenerys starts marching with the Dothraki towards Slaver’s Bay.
Love this show, and i’m loving this season to death
well I also really enjoyed season 5, Season 6 might be my favorite season yet.
Really happy game of thrones is doing well in the rating.
My favourite season so far
So happy about this :))
IMO, so far this season is better than 2, 3, and 5.
Depending how it turns out, this season COULD have a chance of being the best. (Hard to beat 1 and 4 though)
Season 4 and 5 are close to being my favourite equally, season 4 has a slight edge.
However, season 6 looks to be already taking its place. I can only see it go up from here.
Can someone confirm these numbers are for the first airing only? At 9 pm eastern time?
Also, is it streaming services included?
The best part is, there’s literally no room for a ‘weak’ episode this season!
Episode 5 looks like White Walkers and Hodor origin, Kingsmoot
Episode 6 looks like ToJ part 2
Episode 7 looks like Broken Man speech+Hound?
Episode 8 is 60 minutes long, and will probably have siege of Riverrun+Walder Frey demise?
Episode 9 is Bastardbowl
Episode 10 is season finale and GoT’s longest episode yet (69 mins)
This is the peak of Game of Thrones.
It does get confusing because different numbers are reported depending on which numbers do best, it seems. But I believe these are the first viewing, no streaming numbers only, Dee: the most popular measure for how a show is doing, although that may change in the next few years now that streaming is taking over.
I watch GoT via Sky Atlantic – i.e. via satellite. In the UK as far as I know, the only way to watch HBO is via Sky. A ‘Sky Box’ (which in my case does not have an internet connection because I live in Spain and don’t have a UK IP address) can only receive signals. It cannot send data back over the satellite. I don’t know if even my satellite receiver had a network connection if it can pass information back to Sky as to what channel I was viewing?
I’m just one viewer in hundreds of thousands (perhaps even in millions) who subscribe to Sky. I appreciate the viewing figures are not 100% accurate, but a viewing figure like 2.47 million would seem to suggest Sky know to within +/- 10,000 how many viewers are tuned in to a particular program?
So, HTF do they arrive at those viewing figures 😉
And yet most of the audience marvels that they are making such smart TV out of childish fantasy books.
Ginevra,
The reported number is always the same – the audience of the initial airing at 9 each Sunday, no streaming – otherwise there would be no point in trying to compare the numbers. We report other metrics in addition, when they are available.
Ginevra,
We just need to keep in mind that IMDB scores often do not reflect the quality of the episode at all, but mostly how happy the audience was with the plot development. It’s definitely useful to track, but to be taken with a grain of salt. Likeability ratings, as you said.
Hear Marko Roar,
Okay so this number is the viewership of the first airing ONLY on TVS only
This is awesome
Well there is always “guesstimation” with a margin of error based on a small sample of viewers who take part in the scheme:
Naturally you can never know in each home not in the system if there is/are 1 or 10 people watching at a time. As long as the method is consistent I suppose that you get a measurement that gives at least a comparison for how many people are watching what.
Dee,
Yup, these figures are even better than I expected. Anybody think we will see a bigger rise for episode 5? As this episode was such a big one for both Stark fans and Dany fans.
ghost of winterfell,
Maybe we will hit the 8million!
ghost of winterfell,
Along with that …if anyone who watched that preview with bran iam not sure how anyone can miss it
But I think we will only get 8 million in 8,9,10 episodes
meco,
Correct. I was responding to a previous comment wishing the show would skip Memorial Day weekend. That would mean pushing the 10th episode from June 26 as it is now scheduled to July 3rd, which is an even bigger holiday weekend than Memorial Day.
Addy Stark,
Not to mention they wouldn’t qualify for the Emmy’s if they skip a weak.
Most of the audience hasn’t read the books, and you aren’t even attempting to be serious when you call the books “childish”. They are at least as adult as the show…and far, far more complex. The show, by necessity, is massively simplified in almost every story and respect.
the books really are childish garbage. The magic is too much, not grounded and balanced like in the show, and the characters are over the top cliche garbage with no depth and often acting out of character.
The only character who is handled better in the books is stannis….
just a name,
That really depends on what kind of Stannis you want….
His jokes and attitude towards women really started bothering me.
And his quips and jokes.
I can well belief that ‘guesstimation’ comes into ratings. I quite understand if viewers partake in a poll which I would guess involves tapping out some info via the Sky Digibox hand controller.
Although I pay Sky a monthly subscription, I don’t tell them I live outside of the UK else they could deactivate my viewing card via the satellite downlink. For that reason I don’t connect the phone line to the Sky Digibox 😉
TBH, the whole business is ridiculous as there are thousands of Sky subscribers (mainly British expats) who live outside of the UK and around Europe, but due to copyright issues we are breaking the law viewing from outside of the UK.
However, Sky I’m sure are only too pleased to take our money !!