Many House of the Dragon viewers are obviously team Targaryen, because according to Nielsen ratings, the Game of Thrones prequel racked up 327 million minutes of viewing time on HBO Max in the few hours after its premiere on Sunday, August 21.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, streaming rankings measure viewing from Monday through Sunday, but even with a short window of viewing time for the week of August 15 through August 21, House of the Dragon nearly cracked the Top 10. The series was beat out by Canadian drama Heartland which pulled in 422 million minutes of viewing time.
(Credit: HBO)
Game of Thrones also got a ratings bump week to week in the lead-up to House of the Dragon, probably due to viewers getting excited about the new prequel or attempting to remember how truly awful Viserys Targaryen was before the premiere. Games of Thrones improved its standing, rising by 30 percent – 559 million minutes of watch time.
The first episode of House of The Dragon drew 9.986 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms — it premiered on both simultaneously and crashed the streaming service. It was the largest audience for any new original series in the history of HBO.
House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and is based on George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood, which focuses on House Targaryen, the family from which the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) hailed. Co-created by Martin and co-showrunner Ryan Condal, they executive produce alongside director and co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik.
House of the Dragon, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and HBO Max
