Variety: ‘House of the Dragon’ Viewership Rises Another 3% After Time Jump in Episode 6

Story from Variety:

Viewership of “House of the Dragon” Episode 6 drew 3% more viewers than Episode 5, Variety has learned exclusively.

The series is now seeing steady bumps with each installation; Episode 6 marks its third consecutive week of growth. (Episodes 4 showed a 5% increase and Episode 5 showed a 3% increase, as exclusively reported by Variety.)

The calculation of these increases account for both cable viewership across four airings on HBO on Sunday, as recorded by Nielsen, and viewers across HBO Max and other HBO platforms through the night. The specific count of people who watched “House of the Dragon” Episode 6 has not been disclosed by Warner Bros. Discovery, though Variety was able to confirm the percent increase in viewership. However, when isolating linear viewership, 2.479 million viewers tuned in on cable. Additionally, as of Sept. 20, Season 1 was seeing an average of 29 million viewers per episode across all platforms, a significant feat for any cable series, even with the help of streaming.

Titled “The Princess and the Queen,” Episode 6 was a key week for “House of the Dragon” as it begun with a 10-year time jump, requiring some casting swaps in major roles. Notably, the episode introduced Emma D’Arcy as the older version of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, previously played by Milly Alcock, and Olivia Cooke as the older version of Lady Alicent Hightower, previously played by Emily Carey. Because Alcock and Carey quickly emerged as fan favorites for their work in the first five episodes, it’s a promising sign that “House of the Dragon” was still able to retain its viewership after the change.