Game of Thrones season 7 episode 1 shatters HBO ratings records with a whole 50% more viewers than season 6 premiere

Tens of millions watched on TV and on-demand

In spite of the fact TV shows usually decline in viewers each season, there was no 'Is Jon Snow dead?' cliffhanger and viewership is usually lower in summer, Game of Thrones managed recording ratings on Sunday night.

16.1 million HBO subscribers watched the first episode of season 7, 'Dragonstone', 10.1 million of those viewing traditionally and the rest coming from DVR and streaming.

This represents a quite staggering 50% increase from the season 6 premiere last year, which was also the object of much anticipation.

'Dragonstone' brought HBO a couple more records too: one for the most-watched season premiere for any of its series to date, the other for highest number of concurrent viewers on its streaming platforms HBO Go and HBO Now.

It was the most-tweeted-about episode in the show's history, attracting 2.4 million tweets, a high proportion of which were about Arya Stark's dramatic cold open scene and Ed Sheehan's cameo.

This all comes in spite of the fact 'Dragonstone' wasn't a hugely eventful episode (you can read our review here) - it mostly refreshed viewers on where everyone is at in Westeros, though it did start setting up some major clashes that will occur later in the season.

Game of Thrones season 7 continues on HBO, Sky Atlantic and NOWTV Sunday nights.