Game of Thrones Season 7 finale smashes viewer records.
Even though it’s seventh season was three episodes shorter than the preceding six seasons before it, Game of Thrones has once more smashed the previous viewer records set by its sixth season with average viewing figures now an incredible 31 million viewers per episode. This makes the HBO show far and away the biggest show on television. The show’s ratings have climbed gradually since it began in 2011 but the increase in recent seasons has become considerably steeper and Sunday’s Season 7 finale set an all-time record of 16.5 million viewers on HBO alone. This peak in figures is all the more remarkable when you consider the leaks the show suffered with episodes being released illegally online days before they were to supposed to air.
In 2015 Game of Thrones passed The Sopranos as the most watched HBO series ever with 18.2 million viewers. The 31 million average per episode figure is achieved once live, time-shifted, on-demand and streaming plays are factored in. With the eighth season mooted to consist of only six episodes but with increased run-times, it wouldn’t surprise us if the show’s final season is increased to seven or eight episodes given the incredible success of this most recent season. That would all depend on how tightly locked in the scripts are and at what stage in the pre-production process HBO are currently at. If they deem six episodes to be a sufficient amount in which to wrap up the story comfortably then all credit to them if they keep the plot as lean and efficient as it has been this season.
The seventh season of Game of Thrones is a available on Home Box Office in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK with a home video release slated for December 11th 2017.