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The season finale of House of the Dragon brought in a big audience for HBO on Sunday.
The Game of Thrones prequel ended its first season with 9.3 million viewers across all platforms, down a bit from its early episodes but still the best first-night showing for an HBO season or series finale since GOT’s series ender in May 2019.
Since its Aug. 21 premiere, according to HBO, the series has averaged a massive 29 million viewers per episode — higher than all but the final two seasons of Game of Thrones. The first-night, all-platform audience for HotD has hovered in the 9 million-9.5 million range over the course of its 10-episode season.
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The finale drew 1.85 million viewers for its first airing on HBO, in line with House of the Dragon‘s 1.87 million average for previous episodes. The initial showing on the cable channel accounted for just under 20 percent of the total night-one tally; the rest comes from streaming on HBO Max and on-air replays.
“We’re so thrilled to see House of the Dragon catch fire with Game of Thrones fans around the world, as well as new viewers who are discovering the world of Westeros for the first time,” said HBO and HBO Max chairman and CEO Casey Bloys in a statement. “Congrats to George, Ryan, Miguel and the whole House of the Dragon team on an incredible first season.”
Sunday’s finale featured an anticipated showdown between princes Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) — an event that, as depicted in author George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, leads to the Targaryen Civil War.
Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik served as co-showrunners for season one of House of the Dragon. Sapochnik departed the show after the season wrapped production, and Condal will take on showrunning duties solo for season two. Game of Thrones and The Sopranos veteran Alan Taylor joined as an executive producer and will direct several episodes in the second installment.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football was the No. 1 show in primetime Sunday with 15.53 million viewers, although it was a season low for the NFL showcase. CBS’ The Equalizer (6.9 million) was the top entertainment show on the broadcast networks in viewers, while a post-NFL installment of The Simpsons on Fox led non-sports offerings in the adults 18-49 demographic with a 1.14 rating.
The closing games of baseball’s league championship series brought in 4.67 million (the American League on TBS) and 3.61 million (National League on Fox Sports 1) viewers — numbers that were down from last year’s closeout games, likely due in part to running opposite NFL games.
Oct. 25, 8 a.m. Updated with complete Sunday ratings.
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