Bran Stark might be able to eke out a smile over this. On Sunday night “Game of Thrones” scored 13.6 million viewers on HBO and another 6 million on HBO Go and HBO Now. The total, nearly 20 million on Sunday alone, set records for the cable service.
“Thrones” beat everything on cable and everything on broadcast TV. The “American Idol” finale didn’t come close with 7.8 million.
“Thrones” brought so many people to HBO in this short six episode season, the cost of it will be paid off quickly. And we still don’t have delayed viewing this week. A lot of people are still catching up to the final events.
Some wags suggested this wasn’t such a big deal since “Big Bang Theory” had 18 million on CBS this past week for its finale. But that was on a broadcast network, and it was free. There is no comparison.
So now we watch as the Emmy campaign unfolds. “Thrones” should win everything including Best Actor for Peter Dinklage (put him in lede, please) and Maisie Williams for Supporting Actress.
BTW “Thrones” did so well it pulled “Barry” to 2.2 million viewers. Bill Hader must be dancing around his house. Henry Winkler, too. Before “Thrones,” Barry had a 450K average.
