‘Game Of Thrones’ Ratings Hit Near Record High With Two More Episodes To Go For HBO – Update

UPDATE, 12:54 PM: There were no viewership records broken by the latest episode of Game of Thrones this weekend, but the near end of the battle for the Iron Throne was still very strong.

With HBOGo and HBO Now data plus additional linear airs added, the May 5 “The Last of the Starks” snagged 17.2 million viewers.

Put in the bluntest terms possible, that’s a dip of 3.8% from the all-time series high of the epic battle of April 28’s “The Long Night, which was the longest GoT ever at 82-minutes. Slipping a scant 1.1% from the Season 8 opener of April 14, the fourth episode of the eighth and final season of GoT is actually the third most watched episode of the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss EP’d blockbuster ever.

At least until next week’s penultimate episode and May 19’s series finale.

PREVIOUSLY, 7:38 AM: There was one dragon down on the third-to-last episode ever of Game of Thrones on Sunday, but the ratings for the HBO series were flying at a near high.

A combination of hangover and afterglow from the record-breaking and bloody battle of Winterfell against the Night King and his Army of the Dead in GoT‘s “The Long Night” episode April 28, Sunday’s “The Last of the Starks” snared 11.80 million viewers and a 5.07 rating among adults 18-49.

Purely among linear sets of eyeballs watching the series executive produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss based on George R.R. Martin’s writings, that’s a tiny dip of 1.8% from what the 82-minute “Long Night” airing pulled in. Although not as big a deal for the subscription-based premium cabler, among the TV demo this week’s nearly 80-minute GoT tripped up just 4% from the third episode of the eighth and final season.

Of course, HBO will release multi-platform and multi-airing data later today that offer a bigger picture with HBO Go and HBO Now numbers. For right now, “The Last of the Starks” stands as the third most-watched episode of Game of Thrones ever – which is not a bad place to be, invasion of King’s Landing and all.

Also, compared to then record-breaking “The Spoils of War” episode of Season 7 back on August 6, 2017, the fourth episode of Season 8 is up a hefty 16% among viewers.

We’ll update with more GoT stats as we get them later today.