Stop dragon my heart around.
Season 2 of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” is turning into a bit of a ratings problem. The numbers are going in a downward direction, not upward.
Last Sunday night’s ratings were down again, this time by 10.68% in total viewers and a whopping 27% in the key age demo.
Since the new season premiered four weeks ago, the trend is unabated in decline.
This is pretty shocking since, in its heyday, “Game of Thrones” was up between 10 and 12 million viewers
“House of the Dragon” numbers are much lower than seasons 1 and 2 of “Game of Thrones.” Season 2 of that series was averaging 3.8 million linear viewers.
HBO may say the “Dragon” numbers are higher counting in Max and other platforms. But the basic HBO numbers tell the story: viewers are slowly turning off the show.
Why? I don’t know. The production values are tremendous, and so is the acting. But the story arcs are not as vivid as “Game of Thrones.” It’s’ unclear who to root for. The leading men — especially Daemon (Matt Smith) aren’t heroic. The women — and I really like Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra — just seem stressed all the time.
“House of the Dragon” is already renewed for season 3, so it’s not like these ratings will do it in. But if it keeps spiraling down, look for some changes next time around.
