‘Game of Thrones’ Episode 2 Posts Huge Rating, Dips from Season 8 Premiere

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – With 10.29 million viewers, the second episode of the final season of “Game of Thrones,” titled “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” is the fourth-largest episode in the history of the show in terms of linear audience, according to Nielsen’s preliminary figures.

Only the final season 8 premiere, the season seven finale (which garnered 12.07 million viewers), and the fifth episode of season seven (10.72 million) had more viewers than Sunday’s offering.

According to HBO, Sunday’s episode amassed 15.9 million viewers across all platforms (linear, HBOGO and NOW) which means it dropped 8.6% compared to last week’s 17.4 million. However, part of the difference can be attributed to the fact that there was only one replay of episode 2 within the Nielsen measuring period, whereas the season premiere had two.

The linear figure represents a dip of 12.5% from the premiere which drew 11.76 million in the same category.

The season 8 premiere’s total viewership is now up to 27.7 million viewers after additional weekend plays and continued viewing on other platforms. In comparison, the season 7 premiere had 6.5 million fewer viewers at the same point in time.

Last Sunday also accounted for largest night of streaming activity ever for HBO, and the premiere was also the most-tweeted episode in “Thrones” history with more than 5 million tweets on the day it aired.