Season finale Game of Thrones just started and the HBO series is establishing itself as the world record series at all levels. Here are some key numbers you might not know that translates the high level of performance of this season 8. Game of Thrones becomes the TV series of all superlatives. Here is why.
Game of Thrones Season 8: A Huge Budget
When the world discovered Game of Thrones back in season 1, the average budget per episode was USD $6 million, which was already a lot. When HBO released season 6, the total budget per episode was at USD $10 million. The final six episodes of the series will cost around USD $15 million apiece to produce. With 6 episodes, the total production budget for this final season will be of USD $90 million.
TV series production became a high budget game. While Game of Thrones reaches the top, competition is not far. Netflix pays around USD $10 million per episode for The Crown. The streaming platform also pays around USD $8 million for each episode of season 2 of Strange Things.
Game Of Thrones viewership is exponential
Game of Thrones has far managed to build on its ratings every season. Season after season, the HBO series increased its popularity and interest around the world. Here is a recap season after season from a viewership point of view. Numbers are in million viewers
- Season 7: 32.8 million
- Season 6: 25.7 million
- Season 5: 20.2 million
- Season 4: 19.1 million
- Season 3: 14.4 million
- Season 2: 11.6 million
- Season 1: 9.3 million
For this last season, numbers are going on crazy. Distributed in more than 170 countries, experts say that each episode will be seen by at least 100 million people. Game of Thrones became the biggest ever tv series of all times.
GOT Season 8, Episode 1: Twitter Record
The season premiere of Game of Thrones was the most talked about episode of all time on Twitter, according to a new study by musicMagpie.
The first episode of season 8 saw a record-breaking amount of conversation on Twitter, with 131,582,339 tweets posted discussing it. This is followed by The Walking dead with 114,359,205 and Stranger Things with 64,008,599.
The premiere was also more positively received online than the season 7 finale, with 38% of tweets being joyous, compared to just 24% for the finale. To add to this, 56% of tweets about the season 7 finale were sad, compared to just 42% for the season 8 premiere.
GOT Season 8, Episode 1: World Record For Piracy
The first episode of Season 8 was pirated more than 55 million times in the first 24 hours (source: The Verve). The official legal audience in the US for the first broadcast was 17.4 million viewers across all official platforms (TV and OTT). 11.8 million watched live on TV. The top 3 countries with the most pirated views were India with 10 million views, China with 5 million views and the US with 4 million. These incredible pirated views show the planetary character of the series and that season 8 was long time expected by fans from all over the world. In addition, HBO NOW saw a jump of approximately 50% in viewing when compared to last season’s finale and a 97% increase when compared to the seventh season premiere. This Sunday also accounts for the largest night of streaming activity ever for HBO.
Game of Thrones Cast Is The Most Well Paid TV Cast In The World
After the show’s tremendous success, it’s no secret that the cast of the hit fantasy HBO epi-drama
- Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen): USD $710’000
- Kit Harington (John Snow): USD $710’000
- Lena Heady (Cersei Lannister): USD $710’000
- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister): USD $710’000
- Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister): USD $710’000
- Maisie Williams (Arya Stark): USD $210’000
- Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark): USD $210’000
With Season 8 containing 6 episodes, this means that the top 7 actors will receive for the entire season around USD $23.8 million salary. The first episode was aired on April 14th and it was called “Winterfell”. The following episodes will air each Sunday following the premiere, which will lead us towards May 19th.
The series conclusion is probably one of the best-kept secrets in the world, nobody really knows what is going to happen. One thing we do know: Winter is coming.
José Amorim
Information sourced by the author for luxuryactivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.
