The linear cable audience for HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel spinoff “House of the Dragon” fell by 1 million viewers for Sunday night’s third episode, “Second of His Name,” as it drew 2.5 million viewers across four airings on HBO, according to Nielsen.
In terms of linear viewership, the “House of the Dragon” series premiere drew 3.2 million viewers before jumping more than 9% to 3.5 million for the second episode prior to this week’s drop to 2.5 million. It’s worth noting that Episode 3 aired over the Labor Day holiday weekend, which could have impacted live linear viewership.
HBO previously provided digital viewership via HBO Max for the first two episodes of “House of the Dragon,” but did not provide total audience numbers for Episode 3. When combining both linear and digital Sunday night viewership, the premiere episode garnered 9.986 million U.S. viewers, which was the largest audience for any new original series in HBO history. Episode 2 rose 2% when it tallied 10.2 million domestic viewers across HBO Max and linear telecasts.
As of Aug. 29, the “House of the Dragon” premiere had accred 25 million viewers after one week of availability when accounting for delayed multi-platform viewing.
The eighth and final season of “Game of Thrones” averaged 11.9 million live linear viewers on HBO and more than 40 million weekly multiplatform viewers overall. The series finale, which drew 13.6 million live linear viewers and 19.3 million Sunday night viewers across cable and digital, is HBO’s most-watched episode in its history. “House of the Dragon” is not expected to approach those same figures, especially in its first season.
The blockbuster fantasy series has been renewed for a second season.
