Game of Thrones Viewership at Series High for Season 5
By Ani Bundel
Good news everyone! Despite all the complaints about the show’s alleged decline in quality, the distress over storylines that felt underdeveloped or rushed, and of course the boycott of the show some viewers started, Season 5 is officially the most-watched year of Game of Thrones so far. HBO trumpeted as much in a press release.
“GAME OF THRONES season 5 is set to surpass 20 million viewers (currently 19.8 million), eclipsing season 4’s record breaking performance of 19.1 million viewers and cementing its status as HBO’s most watched series ever.”
Previously, HBO’s Most Watched Series crown was held by The Sopranos, with 18.2 million views. But Game of Thrones has been well on it’s way to surpassing that number since the end of last season, and now it’s official. These numbers reflect viewings on HBO proper (which is referred to as “HBO linear,” I assume because, like time, it flies like an arrow and is unable to rewind to the past) plus DVR viewings, HBO On Demand, HBO GO, and HBO NOW.
Of course, we can’t mention this number without also mentioning that other number, that 13 million times the first four episodes of Season 5 were downloaded illegally within the first week after the premiere, due to a leak. Add to that the 2.2 million times “Kill the Boy” was pirated, the 3.5 million times “Unbowed Unbent Unbroken” was pirated, and the nearly 10 million times the finale was pirated, and you can see that the grand total should actually be quite a bit larger.
Biggest. Show. Ever.