‘Home of the Dragon’ is largest HBO sequence premiere in historical past, with almost 10 million viewers

HBO’s “Home of the Dragon” had some fairly massive footwear to fill, following within the footsteps of the mega hit “Sport of Thrones.” It appears, followers of the excessive fantasy sequence had been no less than intrigued sufficient to settle in to look at the primary episode of the sequence, resulting in HBO’s greatest sequence premiere in its historical past.

On Monday, Warner Bros. Discovery revealed that 9.986 million viewers throughout linear and HBO Max platforms tuned in to look at the primary episode of the prequel sequence Sunday evening. That is the most important viewers of any new authentic sequence within the historical past of HBO, the corporate stated.

The corporate stated that Sunday evening viewership for a HBO sequence sometimes represents round 20% to 40% of the present’s whole viewers.

“It was fantastic to see tens of millions of ‘Sport of Thrones’ followers return with us to Westeros final evening,” stated Casey Bloys, chief content material officer for HBO and HBO Max.

“Home of the Dragon” tells the story of the Targaryen civil battle that befell about 200 years earlier than the occasions portrayed in “Sport of Thrones.” It’s based mostly on George R.R. Martin’s novel “Fireplace and Blood.” In contrast to Martin’s different books within the “Music of Ice and Fireplace” sequence, this one options an omniscient narrator who paperwork the histories based mostly on collected accounts of occasions. In some circumstances, these tales contradict one another and there are a number of variations of occasions.

The stakes are excessive for “Home of the Dragon,” which arrived on HBO and HBO Max as newly minted CEO David Zaslav is in search of fats to trim. Value-cutting measures have turn out to be established order on the lately merged firm together with layoffs and content material eliminations from HBO Max.

As Warner Bros. Discovery seeks to save cash, it is also trying to consolidate its streaming companies, one thing that will probably be costly and time-consuming.

“Home of the Dragon,” solely the second entrant in its Sport of Thrones franchise, has loads to show, and to reside as much as. The ultimate season of “Sport of Thrones” left a bitter style in lots of followers’ mouths, as showrunners wrote past the occasions within the materials created by writer Martin, who has but to complete the story in his books.

“Home of the Dragon” holds an 83% “Contemporary” score on Rotten Tomatoes from 413 evaluations, as of Monday afternoon. For comparability, the primary season of “Sport of Thrones” launched in 2011 had a 90% “Contemporary” score. In truth, each season besides the ultimate season had a rating above 90%. Season eight generated a 55% score.

Analysts, buyers and, most significantly, Warner Bros. Discovery executives will probably be keenly watching “Home of the Dragon’s” viewership metrics going ahead to see if it might maintain momentum over the course of the 10-episode sequence.

Disclosure: Comcast is the father or mother firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC. Rotten Tomatoes is owned by NBCUniversal.