• 13.6m people watched initial Game of Thrones finale broadcast
  • HBO recorded 19.3m viewers across all platforms
  • But 46% of viewers left “disappointed” by final episode

Game of Thrones Tyrion credit HBO

Finale: Reviews have been mixed

Source: HBO

The final episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones attracted more than 13.6 million to its initial broadcast on Sunday, topping the channel’s all-time viewership mark.

Preliminary Nielsen figures showed Sunday’s finale, titled The Iron Throne beat HBO’s previous single-telecast record, which was set by an episode of The Sopranos in 2002.

Overall, 19.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the last ever episode of the hit TV show across all HBO’s platforms, which include HBO GO and HBO Now. This surpassed the record set by the penultimate Game of Thrones episode, The Bells, which aired last weekend.

According to HBO figures, season eight of the series, which is based on the books by George R. R. Martin, has averaged 44.2 million viewers per episode, including delayed viewing.

The episode brought the series to a close nine years after it debuted and was one of the most anticipated episodes in television history.

Initial responses from audiences have been mixed, however, according to television tracking app TV Time, which polled fans after the finale. It found that 46 percent said they were disappointed with the way the series ended.

With more than 32,000 fans voting through the TV Time app, the results showed that just 10 percent would describe themselves as “very satisfied” while 14 percent said they were “pretty satisfied” and 30 percent were “somewhat satisfied” with the show’s outcome, according to several reports.

On IMDb, reviews for the final episode put it at 4.5/10 after almost 140,000 votes. Making it one of the worst rated episodes in the show’s history.

HBO has already unveiled plans to launch a number of Game of Thrones spinoff series, with at least three prequels known to be in development.

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