Sky Draws Massive 3.8 Million U.K. Viewers to ‘Game of Thrones’ Finale

By Robert Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – British “Game of Thrones” fans flocked to Sky on Monday to deliver the pay-TV service overnight viewing figures for the series finale that surpassed the record numbers set by the season opener last month.

“The Iron Throne,” which aired on Atlantic, scored the biggest overnight audience ever for a “” finale in the U.K., with more than 3.8 million British fans tuning in, a massive number for a pay-TV channel. According to British ratings tracker the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, 3.2 million viewers stayed up late to tune in to the show’s 2 a.m. local time simulcast Monday morning, which aired concurrently with its HBO premiere, ahead of the primetime Monday night airing.

The result was up 26% on the previous season’s final episode, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” which was a record for the fantasy drama at the time. Season 8 opener “Winterfell” delivered 3.4 million viewers in overnights in mid-April, giving Sky its then-biggest overnight audience.

Full consolidated figures across all Sky platforms, including on-demand service Sky Go, will be announced in early June, with the broadcaster anticipating significant increase in overall viewing figures. The episode is likely to set an overall ratings record for Sky.

Sky told Variety that the average weekly audience for “Game of Thrones” over this final season was 6.15 million, a massive 32% rise on Season 7’s then-record 4.66 million weekly average.

The results are in line with the series’ record set in the U.S. , where drew an astonishing 19.3 million viewers across HBO, HBO Go, and HBO NOW. Sky has an output deal with HBO.

The final season, and its finale, have divided fan opinion, with one online petition demanding that the season be remade “with competent writers,” drawing 1.4 million signatures to date.