'Game of Thrones' Hits HBO's Highest Ratings Since 'Sopranos' Finale | 2017-07-16

Game of Thrones opened its seventh season to a monstrous 4.71 18-49 rating and 10,105,000 total L+SD viewers; the highest viewed episode in the show's history, and the fourth highest rated premiere episode for an HBO original series EVER. Topped only by the season 3, 4, and 5 premieres of 'The Sopranos'. An additional 6 million watched through same-day DVR playback and streaming. The previous high for 'Thrones' was the season 6 finale which brought in a 4.35 18-49 rating and 8,889,000 total viewers. The 2015 season premiere notched a 4.19 18-49 rating and 7,997,000 viewers, while the 2016 premiere brought in a slightly less 3.98 18-49 rating and 7,944,000 viewers. In the 18-34s, it hit a 3.71, in the 25-54s, a huge 5.27, and in households it was at 5.22. The re-airing of the episode had a 1.1 18-49 rating and 2,401,000 viewers at 10pm.

Starz's 'Power' was seemingly unfazed by the presence of 'Thrones', pulling in 1,720,000 total viewers Sunday, almost identical with last week's 1,719,000. Between males and females 18-49, it was even with a 0.7 rating, but in females 12-34, it notched a 0.45, while males 12-34 was at 0.41. The re-airing at 10pm had 715,000 viewers and a 0.31 18-49 rating.

'The Strain', on FX, began its fourth season with 1,443,000 total viewers and a 0.52 18-49 rating, up 6% from its season 3 premiere in total viewers (1,353,000), but down 16% in the demo (0.62). However, it was most-viewed episode since July 26, 2015 (1,469,000/0.64). In males 18-49, it was at 0.6 and in females it was at 0.4.

TNT's 'Claws' hit a series-high 0.47 18-49 rating and 1,253,000 viewers, up from last week's 0.41/1,187,000. In 18-49s, it heavily skews female (0.55 vs. 0.4), but in the 12-34s, it's about even 0.27 vs. 0.25. 

On HGTV, 'Caribbean Life' was at 0.38/1,675,000 & 0.37/1,713,000 for its 2 episodes, 'Island Hunters' brought in 0.44/1,938,000 & 0.38/1,735,000 for its 2, 'Lakefront Bargain Hunt' was at 0.38/1,703,000 & 0.35/1,784,000 for its 2, and finally, 'Flea Market Flip' notched 0.27/1,501,000 & 0.24/1,441,000 for its 2.

Showtime's 'Twin Peaks' had 267,000 viewers and a 0.11 18-49 rating (down from 0.16/355,000), and 'I'm Dying Up Here' hit a season high in the 18-49s (0.05), and had 148,000 total viewers (up from 114,000). 

The 'Kids Choice Sport Awards' aired on Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, and Teennick. The first hour on Nickelodeon had 1,757,000 viewers and the final half-hour (which aired on Nick-at-Night) had 1,450,000. The Nicktoons run pulled in an additional 358,000, and on Teennick it was 381,000. In the teens 12-17 demo, it did a 1.16 for the Nickelodeon hour, and a 1.1 on Nick-at-Night half-hour. Between males and females in that demo, it heavily skewed female with a 1.45 on Nick and a 1.37 on NAN (vs. 0.87 & 0.84 for males 12-17). A 'Spongebob' episode aired immediately before on all 3 networks and did 1,993,000 on Nickelodeon, 201,000 on Nicktoons, and 304,000 on Teennick. The 'Dude Perfect Show' aired immediately after the awards show on all 3 networks, and did 1,424,000 on Nick-at-Night, 205,000 on Nicktoons, and 185,000 on Teennick.

Other shows of note include E!'s 'Botched' (0.29/880,000), CNN's 'Nineties' (0.24/968,000), Oxygen's 'Snapped' (0.11/394,000), AMC's 'Talking with Chris Hardwick' (0.09/262,000), TV One's 'Unsung' (0.08/289,000), Smithsonian's 'America in Color' (0.02/143,000) and SundanceTV's 'Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter' (0.02/76,000). 

A 'Breaking Bad' marathon on AMC hit a high of 725,000 viewers. Food Network Star had 1,805,000.

Top cable news show by network: 'Fox & Friends' (Fox News) averaging 1,195,000 over its 4 hours, 'State of the Union' (CNN) at 762,000, and 'Meet the Press' (MSNBC) at 764,000. 

On broadcast, '60 Minutes' (0.6/3, 6.02m) led at 7pm followed by 'Sunday Night with Megan Kelly' (0.4/2, 3.13m). At 8pm, 'Big Brother' led (1.8/5, 5.95m) followed by 'Celebrity Family Feud' (1.1/5, 6.22m). At 9pm it was 'Steve Harvey's Funderdome' (0.8/3, 4.43m), 'Candy Crush' (0.8/3, 2.86m), and 'American Grit' (0.4/2, 954,000). And at 10pm, it was 'The $100,000 Pyramid' (0.8/3, 4.51m).

Below are the top 20 highest-rated HBO original episodes. 'Sex and the City' crossed the 10 million threshold only once, for its series finale; its highest mark prior was 7.9 million on 7/21/02. Other HBO hits never even got close to hitting that number: True Blood's highest mark was 5,526,000 on 8/21/11, Six Feet Under's was 7,056,000 on 8/19/01, Deadwood's was 5,792,000 for its series premiere on 03/21/04, Carnivale's was 5,325,000 for its series premiere on 09/14/03, and Boardwalk Empire's was 4,809,000 for its series premiere on 09/19/10.

Show	Title	AirDate	Viewers 2+
The Sopranos	"For All Debts Public and Private'	09/15/2002	13,425,000
The Sopranos	"Whitecaps"	12/08/2002	12,478,000
The Sopranos	"Two Tonys"	03/07/2004	12,142,000
The Sopranos	"Made in America"	06/10/2007	11,897,000
The Sopranos	"Proshai, Livushka"	03/04/2001	11,353,000
The Sopranos	"Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood'	03/04/2001	11,264,000
The Sopranos	"No Show"	09/22/2002	11,214,000
The Sopranos	"Calling All Cars"	11/24/2002	11,121,000
The Sopranos	"Eloise"	12/01/2002	11,072,000
The Sopranos	"All Due Respect"	06/06/2004	10,984,000
The Sopranos	"Christopher"	09/29/2002	10,973,000
The Sopranos	"Mergers and Acquisitions"	11/03/2002	10,966,000
The Sopranos	"The Strong, Silent Type"	11/17/2002	10,676,000
The Sopranos	"The Weight"	10/06/2002	10,665,000
Sex and the City	"An American Girl in Paris (Part 2)"	02/22/2004	10,618,000
The Sopranos	"Everybody Hurts"	10/20/2002	10,456,000
The Sopranos	"Where's Johnny"	03/21/2004	10,112,000
Game of Thrones	"Dragonstone"	07/16/2017	10,105,000
The Sopranos	"Rat Pack"	03/14/2004	9,969,000
The Sopranos	"Sentimental Education"	04/11/2004	9,927,000
Source: Nielsen Media Research