Season 2 Premiere of ‘Game of Thrones’ Draws High Ratings

[Spooky]

Season 2 Premiere of 'Game of Thrones' Draws High Ratings
By BILL CARTER
HBO's knights and dragons fantasy series "Game of Thrones" took a big leap in the ratings Sunday night as its second season returned with the most-watched scripted show on cable television last week.

The series is riding growing word of mouth and is fed by viewers catching up with the drama's first season, as well as readers who have continued to buy, in large numbers, the novels the series is based on. The "Game of Thrones" second-season premiere averaged 3.9 million viewers for its first play on Sunday night at 9 p.m.

That was up 74 percent from the audience for the premiere in the first season, 2.2 million. (In comparison, the second episode of "Mad Men" on AMC at 10 p.m. Sunday night averaged 2.9 million.) HBO, of course, is available in about one-third of the television homes in the country.

HBO also announced that "Thrones" had brought in a total of 6.3 million viewers for its three plays on Sunday night, at 9, 10 and 11 p.m.

The surge for "Thrones" parallels the growth pattern for what is now HBO's most popular series, "True Blood." That drama averaged two million viewers for its first play in its initial season and grew to 3.7 million in its second season.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/season-2-premiere-of-game-of-thrones-draws-high-ratings/

[AdmiralDigby]

HBO gets less than AMC ?

[TinkTanker]

AMC is free basic cable. HBO is paid. And it costs waaaay too much, IMHO.

[Spooky]

HBO gets less than AMC ?

You can't really compare the two. HBO isn't an advertising driven network like AMC, but a subscription driven one. They look at the numbers for all their subscribers for all the airings of a show to determine success or failure.

[Spooky]

This is a good read.

How Much Gold Is Game of Thrones Worth?
How does HBO make money on expensive shows only 3 million people watch?

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/03/game_of_thrones_how_hbo_and_showtime_make_money_despite_low_ratings_.html