'Game of Thrones' craze takes over the world: Season 8 premiere draws 17.4 mn viewers in US, gets over 5 mn tweets

NEW DELHI: The final season of 'Game of Thrones' created a rage as it streamed live on Sunday night globally.

Fans of the series, many of whom stayed up late in the United States or woke up early in India to catch the premiere, were an eager lot as they waited for the widely-famous series to return. And the numbers validate the unconditional love that the followers of this series created by George R R Martin have clocked. The TV show made record viewership in the US after the release of the first episode of the eighth season that aired on Monday morning (6:30 AM, IST) on HBO.

In figures released by broadcast network HBO, the premiere attracted 17.4 million viewers across platforms like linear, HBOGO and HBO NOW. The numbers also included an audience of 11.8 million on the linear channel, according to a report by variety.com. Buoyed by the initial success, the channel expects the number to only go up considerably once delayed viewing is factored into the final numbers.

In contrast, the season seven premiere had managed to garner an average of 16.1 million total viewers, including 10.1 million viewers coming from the linear channel, while the rest come from streaming service and DVR. Additionally, HBO NOW saw a jump of approximately 50 per cent in viewing when compared to last season's finale and a 97 per cent increase when compared to the seventh season premiere. It also accounts for largest night of streaming activity ever for HBO.

And while the TV network grabbed the eyeballs, literally, there was a lot of GOT love flowing virtually, on Twitter. Over five million tweets - all referring to the premiere - were posted on the micro-blogging platform, making it the most-tweeted about episode of the show, ever.

In a statement, Twitter said, "the most-tweeted about character from the extremely popular fiction series was Bran, followed by Jon Snow, Daenerys, Sansa and Cersei".

And fans themselves were quick to tweet their love, or hate, depending on whose side they were on as the series rolled on with memes and GIFs.

"I'm judging you #GameofThrones," tweeted one user, while another posted: "When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. #GameofThrones."




Another Twitter user posted: "Am I the only one who didn't like it? Nothing happened at all. #GameofThrones."


"Jon and Arya's reunion scene on loop just because #GameOfThrones," posted yet another one.

GoT is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and DB Weiss.

(With inputs from IANS)

'Game Of Thrones' Hackathon: Here's Everything You Need To Know

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It turns out you don't need hackers to spoil the next episode of Game of Thrones — HBO Spain is here for your needs! HBO Spain accidentally aired the upcoming episode titled Death Is The Enemy for an hour of its 71 minute running time, with clips surfacing on Reddit threads.
The thread in question shows a screengrab from the episode, which shows Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane in the snowy surroundings beyond The Wall.

(Image: YouTube)

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The email contained nine files with labels – 'Confidential' and 'Script GOT7.'

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(Image: http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/episodes/index.html)

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(Image: http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/episodes/index.html)

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