‘Game of Thrones’ Series Finale Ratings Set All-Time HBO Record
Not all Game of Thrones fans may have been pleased with how the final season has gone, but that wouldn’t keep them from tuning in to see how it ends, right?
The HBO drama ended its eight-season run Sunday night with a finale that had plenty of lingering questions to answer, none greater than who would end up on the Iron Throne — and that was sure to be enough to bring in viewers. But did the series end with another record-setting episode?
Yes, it did, with 13.6 million tuning in for the first airing on HBO. Altogether, 19.3 million watched across HBO’s platforms (linear, HBO GO, and HBO NOW), beating the previous series record of 18.4 million for Episode 5. The finale was not only the most watched Game of Thrones episode ever, but also the most-watched single telecast on HBO ever. (The Sopranos Season 4 premiere previously held that record, with 13.4 million tuning in on September 15, 2002.)
Game of Thrones Season 8 averages 44.2 million viewers per episode in gross audience, which is more than 10 million viewers more compared to Season 7.
However, the numbers aren’t looking good for “The Iron Throne” on Rotten Tomatoes‘ Tomatometer. It currently has a 57% “Fresh” to represent the percentage of approved Tomatometer critics who have given the episode a positive review. That’s the second-lowest score for a Season 8 episode, with Episode 5 sitting at 47%. It has also received an average rating of 6.64 out of 10, and again, only Episode 5’s 6.35 is lower.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the finale was also not well-received when compared to previous sixth episodes or season finales, nor was the season when compared to the previous seven. The only Episode 6 with a lower score is Season 5’s at 54%. However, “The Iron Throne” did significantly worse when compared to the other season finales. Other than Season 7’s 87%, the others all scored in the 90s or 100%.
(Helen Sloan/HBO)
Comparing the Tomatometer score for the finale to the rest of Season 8, it is on par with the other two episodes of the second half. Overall, the final season currently has a score of 70% on the Tomatometer, while the previous seven have all scored in the 90s.
There were no significant changes in viewers across the rest of television Sunday night, though Good Girls did improve slightly.
!['Game of Thrones': Did [Spoiler] Deserve the Iron Throne? (POLL)](https://www.tvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/GOT-final-ep-234x155.jpg)
The series finale was a hot topic on social media, with the show and its characters dominating the trending topics.
game of thrones is really dominating the trends section of twitter #GameOfThrones #TheFinalEpisode pic.twitter.com/mcP2lRhoJB
— mika | spoilers (was @sassgodjohnson) (@iwqnrheon) May 20, 2019
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