Some interesting, and revealing viewership metrics have been turning up online for the fourth season of both The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, proving geek TV is in it to win it for the long haul.
The Hollywood Reporter has been collecting viewership numbers this week from both HBO and AMC, which has turned into a sort-of headline grabbing one-upmanship battle as a new story surfaces each day. On Wednesday, The Hollywood Rreporter reported that Game of Thrones viewership had reached 18 million gross weekly viewers this season, which put it nearly on par with The Walking Dead (see "'The Walking Dead' Round-Up"). That number, provided by HBO, included first-runs, encores, HBO GO and On Demand views, as well as the 7.2 million viewers it draws on Sunday nights.
AMC replied this morning, sharing their own numbers with THR, stating that the Walking Dead weekly viewership for last season actually jumped to 28 million every week, if, like HBO, they include the replays, on-demand and TV Everywhere views. The viewership numbers of 18.4 million only included the original broadcasts’ live-plus-7 day ratings.
HBO, not to be outdone, fired back a few hours later that the gross Game of Thrones S4 average had actually jumped from 18 to 18.4 million viewers, and they still have two episodes to go. That puts Game of Thrones above the network record set by The Sopranos in 2002, which was 18.2 million viewers. That record is also up 4 million viewers from last season (see "'Game of Thrones' Sets Viewer, Pirate Records").
Obviously, neither network is officially accounting for piracy or international viewership. But with AMC’s numbers set to grow even more when the show hits network rerun syndication this fall ("Can You Say Ka-Ching? Dept.: 'The Walking Dead' to Get Broadcast Exposure"), The Walking Dead will probably shamble farther out in front.
The TV numbers are just one part of an overall domination of the media universe by geek properties, with movies the other half of the picture (see "Comic Based Movies Are Tops Worldwide").
But Both Now Officially Huge
Posted by ICv2 on June 5, 2014 @ 5:50 pm CT
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