Ratings: House of the Dragon Dips After 20-Month Break, But Fuels Max’s Biggest Day Ever
The lonnnnnng-awaited Season 2 premiere of House of the Dragon delivered 7.8 million cross platform viewers in the U.S. on Sunday night, marking a 16% decline from the Game of Thrones prequel’s freshman finale, which was released some 20 months ago, in October of the year 2022.
That Season 1 finale drew 9.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched HBO finale since Game of Thrones concluded its eighth and final season with 19.8 million viewers in 2019.
House of the Dragon‘s Season 2 premiere audience was similarly down 22% from the the fantasy saga’s August 2022 debut, which amassed 10 million cross platform viewers (aka the largest audience for any new series in HBO’s history).
That said, HBO — though without proving any specific data points — claims that House of the Dragon fueled “return record-breaking weekend viewership numbers on Max,” as people clearly caught up on Season 1, and on Sunday led the streaming platform to “its largest single-day audience to date.”
TVLine readers gave Sunday’s Season 2 premiere an average grade of “A-“; read Kim Roots’ recap plus post mortem interviews about changes to the “Blood & Cheese” murder, Alicent and Ser Criston’s bedroom antics, and the “sew” cool new opening credits.
Want scoop on House of the Dragon Season 2, or for any other TV show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
There cannot be a 2-year break again! it does hurt the show. people lose interest. thankfully I forgot to finish Season 1, So I binged Episode 8, 9, & 10. Sunday before I started season 2.
I did the same and then realized I had remembered little since during its initial run of Season 1, I started it on vacation and then got home to a 3 week hospital stay so I was not in peak TV show mode that fall… Thankfully my all knowledgeable son helped me remember a bunch since I did watch but not as closely… I also think the so called “ratings” on HBO cable might have been down due to NBA but maybe that audience doesn’t cross over much…
I know the strikes had something to do with it… but it shouldnt take two years to make eight episodes.
British and European filmed shows frequently take 2 or 3 year breaks between series. It doesn’t bother the viewers there, or anywhere else except for the US.
And overnight viewings figures don’t tell the whole story anymore as when combined with the streaming numbers, the viewership numbers for the first episode of this season will only grow larger as the week goes on. And plus, HOTD is #1 all across the world, according to FlixPatrol in streaming, plus the reason overnight figures are down could be because it’s a Summer Month & there’s no direct competition from “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” which will debt its’ second season on August 29th on Amazon Prime. Looking forward to that as well. Anyway, my point is that HOTD is doing just fine. And we don’t have to worry about its’ future since it has already been renewed for another season.
I watched on Max
Excellent second season premiere. Excited for the rest of the season.
The new season is premiering in the Summer months, whereas the first season premiered in the Fall, plus the first season had direct competition with the first season of “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power”, which will premiere its’ new season on August 29th on Amazon Prime. And both “Rings” & “Dragon” had to have breaks of 3 to 3 years to get properly made in their second seasons. Still HOTD having 7.8 million viewers on linear TV is still a huge deal & is hardly a disaster, plus the streaming numbers for the premiere will probably break records by the end of the week & it has already been renewed for a 3rd season.
Not “7.8 million viewers on linear TV,” but multi-platform (including Max etc).
Thanks for correcting me on that. Like I said, 7.8 million viewers is hardly a disaster & the streaming numbers will most likely break viewership records by the end of the week & the show has already been renewed for another season. Plus, we will have to see what the viewership numbers for next weeks’ episode will be. Perhaps, they will be bigger. Can’t wait for “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power”. How about you?
Plus, the overnight viewing figures for the season’s second episode might grow from the 7.8 million. We’ll have to wait & see.
After Max increase it’s prices and the cost of cable you’re surprised viewership dropped for seasons two. I don’t think the NBA has anything to do with dropping viewership it’s a different demographic that watches HOD.
Like I said before, streaming viewership will add on to the 7.8 million views in the coming week & will grow into a much larger viewership number by the end of the week. That’s what matters most. Yes, the overnight numbers are important, but they don’t tell the whole story.
If there was at least one real “good side” in HOTD, maybe it would be bringing in more viewers. But, what do I know?
I don’t have HBO or Max so I have to wait to watch later. Every streaming has only one show that arouses my curiosity. It is not worth paying for it.