‘Game of Thrones’ Episode ‘The Long Night’ Sets Record

The April 28 episode of Game of Thrones drew 17.8 million viewers on HBO, which the network said is a series high in gross audience. The episode was called “The Long Night” and showed a brutal battle between Winterfell and the Army of the Dead. The 17.8 million includes two linear airings Sunday and streaming on HBO Now and HBO Go.

The previous gross audience high was 17.4 million viewers, which happened for the season eight premiere of Game of Thrones April 14.

That had set a record for an HBO series episode.

The premiere episode has surpassed 38 million viewers, said HBO.

Game of Thrones ends May 19.

Leading out of Game of Thrones April 28, dark comedy Barry reached a series high in both gross audience and initial broadcast, with 2.5 million viewers for the night and just over 2 million viewers at 10:30 p.m. (5% above the previous high set the previous week). The gross audience includes two linear airings from Sunday and streaming.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.