Infographic shows that death has been good for Game of Thrones’ ratings

Everyone knows the cliche, spoken by many Game of Thrones viewers after particularly heartbreaking moments: “That’s it! I’m not watching this show ever again!” And then the remote goes flying across the room. “That was my favorite character, and now they’re dead, HOW COULD YOU?” We saw it back in Season 1, when Ned’s head came off. We saw it again when Robb Stark lost his head (and had Greywind’s sewn on in it’s stead) in Season 3. The howls weren’t quite so dramatic when Jon Snow passed at the end of last season, but that was more due to straight-up disbelief and denial among viewers.

But if you think those viewers really stopped watching, then you haven’t been paying attention. Let’s be real—if Game of Thrones lost viewers every time someone died, the show’s ratings would be in the negative numbers, instead of record-breaking. In fact, a new infographic from Forbes shows that the shock!deaths have been good for the series. Every time the show kills a Stark, more viewers tune in.

Now, of course, part of this is due to the natural growth between seasons. Note the huge jumps in viewership between Seasons 1 and 2, and then again between Seasons 3 and 4. The major deaths in Seasons 1 and 2—Ned and Robb Stark—served the raise the show’s profile, and so more and more people began to watch. There’s another huge jump between Season 4 and 5—Shae and Tywin’s murder, not to mention Arya leaving the Hound for dead, and have peaked interest again.

The only time anyone seems to have been serious about tuning out was immediately after “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” when Sansa Stark was raped. There was a noticeable drop in viewership for the next episode, “The Gift,”—the very public objections to the prior episode may have caught a lot of attention. And just as importantly, I think, is that the drop occurred over something other than “You killed my favorite character.” But it doesn’t last. By the time the Massacre of Hardhome rolled around, people returned in droves. And Shireen burning alive pulled them back in even more, leading to Jon Snow’s murder in the season finale, which is the highest rated episode of the series so far.

How many will tune in this coming Sunday? Will Game of Thrones shatter its own record once again? I think it depends how many people they kill off, don’t you?