'Game of Thrones' Premiere Ratings Smash HBO Records with 16.1 Million Viewers

The worldwide hit series delivered an incredible 16.1 million viewers for the highly anticipated kick-off to its penultimate season across all HBO platforms (including repeats and streaming and DVR). The news is both terrific for HBO and just a tad bittersweet — with only 12 episodes remaining, Game of Thrones is a hugely lucrative property whose popularity has climbed every season that the company will dearly miss after it’s gone (the current season has seven episodes total; the eighth and final season will have six).