Game of Thrones finale The Iron Throne becomes most-watched episode in show's history
Show has beaten its own audience records throughout its eighth season
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Warning: the story below contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season eight.
Game of Thrones' finale has become the fantasy drama's most watched episode ever.
The Iron Throne, which aired on Sunday, drew 19.3m US viewers, establishing a new audience record, according to HBO.
This beats the previous record set one week prior by The Bells, the fifth episode in the eighth and final season, which was watched by 18.4m people across all platforms (meaning television, HBO Go and HBO Now).
Game of Thrones has broken its own audience records throughout the season.
Before The Bells, the record holder was The Long Night, the third episode in the eighth season, with 17.8m viewers.
The fantasy drama's finale also became the most-watched single telecast ever on HBO, surpassing the previous record set by crime drama The Sopranos in 2002, the network said.
While the show is available in more than 150 countries worldwide, HBO said viewing data is not easily retrieved in many of those markets, making a global figure impossible to calculate.
Game of Thrones is available on NOW TV in the UK, and on HBO in the US.
Additional reporting by agencies
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments