{"id":2012878,"date":"2026-06-26T15:53:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2012878"},"modified":"2026-06-26T15:53:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:53:59","slug":"house-of-the-dragon-viewership-is-down-for-season-three-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2012878","title":{"rendered":"\u2018House Of The Dragon\u2019 viewership is down for season three premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Matt-Smith-in-House-Of-The-Dragon-S3.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2749694\" class=\"post-2749694 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>News<\/span><span>TV News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">\u2018House Of The Dragon\u2019 viewership is down for season three premiere<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The fantasy series recently returned to screens with a bloody first episode <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Tom Skinner<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-06-26T16:53:59+01:00\">26th June 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span8\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Matt-Smith-in-House-Of-The-Dragon-S3-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Smith in &apos;House Of The Dragon&apos; season 3.\" title=\"Matt Smith in House Of The Dragon S3\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Matt Smith in &#8216;House Of The Dragon&#8217; season 3. CREDIT: HBO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_83 article-content-row vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The viewership for <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> is down following the premiere episode of season three.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: Is <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> getting a season four?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>HBO\u2018s prequel series to <em>Game Of Thrones<\/em> returned to screens in the US last Sunday (June 21), following the conclusion of season two in 2024.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>The opening episode then arrived in the UK the following day (Monday June 22) on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. This new run will consist of eight episodes, airing weekly through to the finale in early August.<\/p>\n<p>As reported by <em>Deadline<\/em>, the season three premiere racked up 21.5million viewers worldwide in the first three days across HBO and HBO Max.<\/p>\n<p>This figure \u2013 shared by Warner Bros. Discovery. yesterday (Thursday June 25) \u2013 is down approximately eight per cent from season two\u2019s 23.4million viewers across three days.<\/p>\n<p>However, it remains a strong enough audience retention for the season debut.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"House of the Dragon Season 3 | Official Final Trailer | HBO Max\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0JlMjgqduVw?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is said that a decline was somewhat expected, given that <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> had seen a fall in viewers between season one (2022) and season two.<\/p>\n<p>According to Warner Bros. Discovery, viewership for season two had tripled in the run-up to the season three premiere. This suggests that some fans were rewatching to refresh themselves, while there were likely some new viewers jumping on board.<\/p>\n<p>The fantasy series, created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal, debuted to 7.8million viewers on season two\u2019s first day of availability, down from 10million for season one.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Warning: the rest of this article contains spoilers for <\/strong><\/em><strong>House Of The Dragon<\/strong><em><strong> season three\u2026.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>The season three premiere depicts the Battle Of The Gullet, which is described as the bloodiest sea battle in Westeros\u2019 history. As you might expect from the <em>Game Of Thrones<\/em> franchise, that means some major characters have inevitably been wiped off the board.<\/p>\n<p>There were four key deaths (or five, counting a dragon) in the first episode of the third season. Meanwhile, fans were left horrified after the premiere featured a mother-son kiss on screen.<\/p>\n<p>HBO has already renewed <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> for a fourth and final season, with the next run currently expected to arrive in 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Game of Thrones<\/li>\n<li>HBO<\/li>\n<li>HBO Max<\/li>\n<li>House of the Dragon<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_89 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span4 td-is-sticky\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-sidebar  tdi_92 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space-shooter ready for a fresh generation<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td-a-rec td-a-rec-id-custom_ad_1  tdi_94 td_block_template_2\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_95\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_96  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_98  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_100  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_102  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_104 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_105 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card 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class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The viewership for <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> is down following the premiere episode of season three.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: Is <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> getting a season four?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>HBO\u2018s prequel series to <em>Game Of Thrones<\/em> returned to screens in the US last Sunday (June 21), following the conclusion of season two in 2024.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>The opening episode then arrived in the UK the following day (Monday June 22) on HBO Max, Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. This new run will consist of eight episodes, airing weekly through to the finale in early August.<\/p>\n<p>As reported by <em>Deadline<\/em>, the season three premiere racked up 21.5million viewers worldwide in the first three days across HBO and HBO Max.<\/p>\n<p>This figure \u2013 shared by Warner Bros. Discovery. yesterday (Thursday June 25) \u2013 is down approximately eight per cent from season two\u2019s 23.4million viewers across three days.<\/p>\n<p>However, it remains a strong enough audience retention for the season debut.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"House of the Dragon Season 3 | Official Final Trailer | HBO Max\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0JlMjgqduVw?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is said that a decline was somewhat expected, given that <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> had seen a fall in viewers between season one (2022) and season two.<\/p>\n<p>According to Warner Bros. Discovery, viewership for season two had tripled in the run-up to the season three premiere. This suggests that some fans were rewatching to refresh themselves, while there were likely some new viewers jumping on board.<\/p>\n<p>The fantasy series, created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal, debuted to 7.8million viewers on season two\u2019s first day of availability, down from 10million for season one.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Warning: the rest of this article contains spoilers for <\/strong><\/em><strong>House Of The Dragon<\/strong><em><strong> season three\u2026.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>The season three premiere depicts the Battle Of The Gullet, which is described as the bloodiest sea battle in Westeros\u2019 history. As you might expect from the <em>Game Of Thrones<\/em> franchise, that means some major characters have inevitably been wiped off the board.<\/p>\n<p>There were four key deaths (or five, counting a dragon) in the first episode of the third season. Meanwhile, fans were left horrified after the premiere featured a mother-son kiss on screen.<\/p>\n<p>HBO has already renewed <em>House Of The Dragon<\/em> for a fourth and final season, with the next run currently expected to arrive in 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/tv\/house-of-the-dragon-viewership-is-down-for-season-three-premiere-3953556&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Matt-Smith-in-House-Of-The-Dragon-S3.jpg&#8221;] NewsTV News \u2018House Of The Dragon\u2019 viewership is down for season three premiere The fantasy series recently returned to screens with a bloody first episode By Tom Skinner 26th June 2026 Matt Smith in &#8216;House Of The Dragon&#8217; season 3. CREDIT: HBO The viewership for House Of The Dragon is down following [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2012878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2012878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2012878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2012878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2012878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}