‘Game of Thrones’ Most Popular Show in HBO History, Rivals ‘Walking Dead’

Game of Thrones has surpassed HBO’s legendary gangster drama The Sopranos to become the most watched series in the cable network’s history.

Episodes for the fourth season of the series have averaged an audience size of 18.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Soundscan. In comparison, The Sopranos previously held the record with 18.2 million viewers per episode for the series’s fourth season in 2002.

The ratings figure is derived from first runs, encores, HBO Go and On Demand views. These new media views help more than double the show’s average Sunday night rating of 7.2 million viewers over the past month.

Since the landscape of television has changed dramatically from back when Tony was whacking Paulie and Christopher in the 2000s, it remains unknown what numbers The Sopranos would’ve pulled if these new forms of media were available back in the day. On the flipside, Game of Thrones leads the United States as the most illegally downloaded television program in the nation so exact numbers on true viewership remains unknown.

The new ratings now put Game of Thrones neck and neck with The Walking Dead, the so-called “gold standard” of television due to its ratings dominance among the key demographic of adults 18-49. The most recent season of The Walking Dead averaged 18.4 million viewers using the popular live-plus-7 ranking the Big Four networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) prefer. Since HBO requires a subscriber account it is hard to compare the network to anyone else, especially a show on the Big Four or basic cable.

All in all, the popularity of Game of Thrones is on the rise. The show’s fourth season premiere of 6.635 million viewers was the network’s most watched telecast since The Sopranos drew a record 11.9 million in 2007. Since then, the series has topped its own record numerous times, peaking with 7.195 million viewers on May 18. It’s still remains to be seen where the ratings ceiling will be for Game of Thrones as the plot only thickens with each episode.

Luckily for fans, due to the series’ exceptional ratings, Game of Thrones has been renewed for a fifth and sixth season.