The target demographic for HBO’s House of the Dragon has been identified. Variety has reported that compared to Episode 4, “King of the Narrow Sea,” the fifth episode, “We light the Way,” attracted 3% more views. In addition, there are presently an average of 29 million viewers every episode of the Game of Thrones prequel series’ first season.
These figures come from a combination of data collected by Nielsen from all four cable airings of Episode 5 on Sunday plus the number of people who watched the episode on HBO Max and other HBO streaming services, as stated in the report.
Linear viewing, however, is up 4% over the previous week’s cable watchers, as reported by Nielsen. Fans have clearly taken to HBO’s latest offering, as the show has reached a retention rate that is expected to be steady throughout Season 1. Although HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has been reducing the amount of scripted and unscripted material in recent months, the success of the series House of the Dragon will bring some calm to the pandemonium. Fans may travel back in time 175 years before the events of Game of Thrones by reading “House of the Dragon.” Based on the books Fire and Blood and Dance of the Dragons, the series was created by George RR Martin and Ryan Condal and is co-showrun by original series vet Miguel Sapochnik.
Episode 1 reportedly drew in 10 million people, setting the tone for the rest of the series, which witnessed consistent growth in viewership with each subsequent episode until the release of Episode 3 on Labour Day weekend, which resulted in a 1 million reduction in cable viewing. Midway through the season has been reached, and with it comes the wedding of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) to Ser Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate). Emily Carey’s Alicent Hightower wore a green garment to show her disapproval of the dragons’ presence. Throughout the five episodes, Daemon (Matt Smith) has been just as erratic and untrustworthy as the characters in Martin’s books, and King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) health has steadily worsened.
Finally, the prequel series has shown the plotting and espionage that fans of “Game of Thrones” have been waiting for, and the “real games” have just begun. Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), who just killed Laenor’s love interest, Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), and, of course, all the youngsters who are grown up in the coming episodes, are all worth keeping an eye on for the remainder of the season. In Episode 6, “The Princess and the Queen,” Alcock and Carey will be replaced by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, who will portray Princess Rhaenyra and Lady Alicent, respectively, respectively, from another era. On September 25th, a whole new episode will be available.