House of the Dragon returned for its second season on June 16, and while the season premiere was down significantly over Season 1’s premiere in 2022, the show helped lift Max to its biggest day ever.
House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 1 reached 7.8 million viewers on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16, which is down 22% against the 10 million people who watched the series debut in 2022.
Although Season 2’s premiere was down in a big way, it still helped Max have its “biggest streaming day ever,” according to Warner Bros. Discovery (via Variety). This wasn’t necessarily a big surprise, though, given that Max expanded to a major new market, Europe, back in May, and House of the Dragon Season 2 was the first major new release for Max since then.
House of the Dragon Season 1’s biggest episode was its second one, which hit 10.2 million viewers for its Sunday premiere. To be clear, the figures cited here are for Sunday evening viewing exclusively. Not everyone can or wants to watch right away, so the viewership figures for House of the Dragon Season 2’s first episode will surely grow in the days to come. The first episode of Season 2 also has a surprising twist that connects it back to the original Game of Thrones, and this might encourage lapsed fans to jump in.
Also, WBD noted that viewership of House of the Dragon Season 1 surged in the week prior to Season 2’s debut, no doubt as fans re-watched some or all of the first season or caught it for the first time in the run up to Season 2’s premiere.
New episodes of House of the Dragon air Sunday nights. If you’re caught up thus far, you can check out a trailer for what’s coming in the weeks ahead and get a breakdown of the Season 1 premiere.
