House of the Dragon season 2 opens to strong ratings, but well below season 1

HBO has put a ton of effort into marketing the second season of House of the Dragon; I mean, my god, there is a giant green prop dragon curled around the Empire State Building. HBO is hoping that after two years away, this marketing push will get people to tune in.

And it worked...with some caveats. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 7.8 million people watched the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere episode, "A Son for a Son," this past Sunday night. That's a big haul, but it's down 22% from the season 1 premiere, which was watched by nearly 10 million people on the night, which set a record for HBO

Throughout its first season, House of the Dragon averaged around 29 million people per episode, measured from 90 days after the season debut. In contrast, The White Lotus season 2 and Succession season 4 — two celebrated seasons of TV — came in at 10.1 million and 8.7 million viewers per episode respectively. And remember, that's total number of viewers per episode throughout the season. The House of the Dragon season 2 premiere getting 7.8 million viewers in one night bodes well, just not as well as the numbers for season 1 did.

This past Sunday was apparently especially low for TV usage, but I attribute the House of the Dragon drop to: 1) fewer people curious this time around about HBO's Game of Thrones prequel show; I suspect people watching this time were interested in House of the Dragon specifically rather than seeing what HBO would do to follow up its mega-hit; and 2) some people having lost interest in the two years since House of the Dragon season 1. Huge marketing push or not, that's just a long time to wait for new episodes of a TV show. I think we'll see drops like this until networks figure out how to put out new seasons of these big tentpole shows yearly.

New episodes of House of the Dragon drop Sundays on HBO and Max. Will the ratings continue to slide or will they pick up as the show builds momentum? We'll be covering it here! The show is already renewed for season 3, and if I were HBO, I would do whatever I can to make sure the new episodes come out as soon as possible

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