The “Game of Thrones” Season 7 premiere broke ratings records on HBO Sunday night.

The episode drew 16.1 million total viewers, including 10.1 million who watched on the linear channel and the rest coming from DVR and streaming. That represents an incredible 50% increase from last year’s premiere, when the show premiered in the spring when TV viewership is typically higher than the summer. That also makes the episode the most-watched season premiere for any HBO series to date. The Season 7 premiere also saw the highest number of concurrent viewers across the streaming services HBO Go and HBO Now. – Variety

It looks like the decision to push Game of Thrones into a summer release was a smart move, as the show absolutely destroyed HBO ratings records last night. The best part? GOT seems to be reaching a creative highpoint as well, as the last three episodes have been some of the best offerings to date. Any time you can increase your viewership by 50% from one season to the next, you know you’re doing something right. Since it’s pretty much the only show on for July and August, I have to imagine this ratings trend will continue throughout the season.

-Ryan

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— The Average Nobodies (@AverageNobodies) July 14, 2017