House of the Dragon Episode 2 breaks the series premier record, with more than 10 million views on all platforms. House of the Dragon premiered on HBO on August 21. It follows the Targaryen family history 200 years before Game of Thrones. Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochn, Game of Thrones alums, will take over for D.B. Weiss and David Benioff as showrunners. The ensemble cast includes Paddy Considine, Milly Alcock, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Graham McTavish, Emily Carey, Fabien Frankel, Eve Best, and Steve Toussaint.
HBO started to pursue spinoffs in George R.R. Martin’s Westeros after Game of Thrones’ huge success. It also included a prequel series that starred Naomi Watts but was dropped after the pilot. Some were concerned that the controversial finale of Game of Thrones would cause viewers to be turned off by a prequel because of the fervent response to season 8. But House of the Dragon’s debut was seen by 9.9 million viewers last week. This broke the HBO series debut record and was later picked up for a second episode.
According to Inside HBO Max, episode 2 of House of the Dragon has broken its own series premiere record in viewership. According to Nielsen and other first-party data, 10.2 million viewers watched the second episode on HBO Max and linear TV combined.
According to the Inside HBO Max tweet:
Viewership of @HouseOfDragon Episode 2 was up 2% Sunday night, tallying 10.2 million viewers domestically across @HBOMax and linear telecasts, based on a combination of Nielsen and first-party data.
After just one week of being available, House of the Dragon has attracted 25 million viewers in the United States. It is mainly due to a 2% increase in viewership of the second episode since its series premiere. Game of Thrones, the predecessor to House of the Dragon, has seen 8 consecutive weeks of growth in viewers. Game of Thrones was also the 2nd-most-watched HBO Max title last week, behind its latest prequel. This shows that Martin’s universe on screen is more popular than ever.
As the hype began to fade, it wouldn’t be surprising that House the Dragon’s viewership plummets after the series premiere. The same was true for Better Call Saul, a prequel series. It enjoyed massive reception from viewers, following the excitement from Breaking Bad’s satisfying finale. It attracted nearly 7 million viewers for its series premiere in 2015. However, it returned to earth with just 3.4 million viewers for episode 2. However, House of the Dragon is defying all expectations with a 2% increase in viewers from the highly anticipated series premiere to the second episode. House of the Dragon already enjoys a huge fanbase from Game of Thrones. It could soon surpass its predecessor as the fantasy franchise continues to rise in popularity.
