Variety: ‘House of the Dragon’ Viewership Up 5% With Episode 4

Story from Variety:

Viewership of “House of the Dragon” increased by 5% between Episodes 3 and 4, Variety has learned exclusively.

Per Nielsen, linear viewing of the series remained mostly steady, with 2.536 million viewers across four cable airings for the week-ago episode compared to 2.474 million this Sunday. But with streaming on HBO Max and other HBO platforms included, Variety has confirmed overall U.S. viewership of the series is up 5% week over week.

Titled “King of the Narrow Sea,” Episode 4 premiered on Sunday night as NBC was airing Week 1 of Sunday Night Football. The programs will air concurrently for the rest of Season 1’s run. Additionally, “House of the Dragon” slightly competes for linear viewership with a show on its own network: “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” returned to HBO on Sunday night after two weeks off the air, shifting the timing of Episode 4’s repeat airings to later timeslots.

This week’s slight uptick is good news for Warner Bros. Discovery, as last week’s debut of Episode 3 over Labor Day Weekend saw a decrease in cable viewership. (Data regarding overall viewership for the episode, including the key streaming contingent, was unavailable.) Therefore, that the series now appears to be retaining its viewership bodes well for “House of the Dragon” and the “Game of Thrones” franchise overall.

Additionally, viewership of previous episodes of “House of the Dragon” continues to rise with delayed viewing via streaming. According to Warner Bros. Discovery’s chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, the premiere episode — which was already HBO’s most-viewed premiere of all time when it debuted to 10 million viewers — has now been seen by over 30 million.

“House of the Dragon” has already been renewed for a second season.