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HBO said Sunday's live U.S. television audience
and viewers on its HBO GO and HBO NOW apps exceeded the previous
series high of 16.9 million viewers for the Season 7 finale two
years ago.
On social media, Sunday's premiere was also the
most-tweeted-about episode of the show ever, with more than 5
million Tweets, and 11 million mentions throughout the course of
the weekend, HBO said in a statement.
All of the top 10 global Twitter trends late Sunday evening were
about the episode.
The series set among warring families in the fictional kingdom
of Westeros, which began in 2007, has become HBO's biggest hit.
Season 7 averaged 32.8 million U.S. viewers per episode when
delayed viewing was counted and HBO said it expected the Season
8 average to "grow considerably".
"Game of Thrones" is available in over 150 countries worldwide,
but HBO said viewing data is not easily retrieved in many of
those markets, making a global figure impossible to calculate.
Details of the final season have been kept a closely guarded
secret, boosting anticipation.
The most-tweeted moment from Sunday's show came when popular
"Thrones" character Jon Snow (played by Kit Harington) learned
the truth about his parents, and the fact that his love
interest, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), is in fact his
aunt.
Despite its avid fan base, "Game of Thrones" is far from the
biggest television event in the United States. The annual NFL
Super Bowl attracts about 100 million viewers and the 2019
Oscars ceremony in February was watched on television by 29.6
million Americans.
The final episode of "Game of Thrones" will air on May 19.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Leslie Adler
and Tom Brown)
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