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Evaluating the performance of streaming-era programming remains a tricky proposition, of course.
(One record that seems safe fromDragons fire, however, is that of the final season ofThrones.
It attracted an estimated 46 million viewers per episode.)
Nielsens linear ratings track with the cumulative multiplatform data reported by HBO.
(FXsAmerican Horror Storynotched fewer than 400,000 viewers with its return last week.)
Nielsen also measures streaming viewership, although it uses minutes viewed instead of people.
(Nielsen doesnt include mobile and laptop viewing.)
(A Netflix series such asDahmerreleases ten episodes at once vs. the weekly release pattern for HBO.)
That made it the biggest U.S. drama launch in Sky history, the data pipe said.
It did not release specific viewership numbers for those markets.
HBO says viewership forDragonin the U.S. has been remarkably balanced, nearly evenly divided between men and women.
Dragonhas been a force on social media, building interest as its season progressed.
1 TV or streaming title every week during its run, per analytics company Talkwater.
Parrot Analytics, which measures consumer sentiment toward shows with its demand index, has reported similar results.
It was a phenomenal success by any metric you look at.
Fans came, watched, discussed, and enjoyed.
And yet, as Bloyss anxiety underscores, this outcome was not predestined.
We had never done a reboot toSopranosorSix Feet Underor anything like that, Bloys notes.
We had to find material that we thought was worth it.
More than a spinoff,Dragonwas now a potent weapon in HBOs effort to win the streaming wars.
For one thing, its added a significant number of viewers to the overall audience tally.
That sure beats relying solely on an algorithm to remind people to come back every week.
(This weekends finale trended on Twitter for a full ten hours Sunday.)
Theres no time where its easy sailing; you always have to work for it.
Bloys, however, says the plans of other platforms ultimately had no impact on his rollout strategy.
It wasnt anything that we seriously thought about, like, Should we move it?
Had things gone wrong, some metaphorical heads couldve ended up on some metaphorical spikes.
Indeed, Bloys saysHouse of the Dragonhas already had a ripple effect on Maxs overall performance.
Were trying to make people addicts, who love our product and cant get enough of it.
I think probably the next thing would be season two, he says.
Well, lets see, he says, laughing.
That would be nice.
That would be nice.
