How have the two series played off? Apparently, The Last of Us has prevailed in a tough battle against The House of the Dragon.
The Last of Us has blown up The House of the Dragon. The premiere of the latest great HBO series has officially surpassed that of the Game of Thrones spin-off in viewership numbers. Based on the critically acclaimed 2013 video game of the same name, the show premiered on January 15 and quickly became HBO’s latest hot show. Before the post-apocalyptic zombie series, HBO premiered in August 2022 the equally popular Game of Thrones prequel based on George RR Martin’s novel Fire and Blood. To date, that prequel had been the biggest HBO series premiere with 10 million viewers worldwide. But its hegemony has varied.
In the latest issues of Nielsen, it has been confirmed that episode 1 of The Last of Us was a bigger hit than House of the Dragon. At least, as far as streaming is concerned.
Making its countdown debut, we see the first of @HBOMax’s #TheLastofUs on our charts–with over 837 million minutes viewed; it’s quite the debut. pic.twitter.com/a2GutGRB0F
— Nielsen (@nielsen) February 16, 2023
The Last of Us peaked at number 6 on the Nielsen streaming charts for the week of January 16-22, the first full week after its premiere. It had 837 million minutes viewed. In the same time frame after its release, The House of the Dragon amassed just 741 million minutes watched (according to Deadline). So the Joel and Ellie series has been an amazing bombshell.
The growth of the HBO series is being unstoppable
According to HBO, The Last of Us has had consistently high viewership for every episode since its premiere., with an average of 21.3 million viewers in the first two episodes on all platforms. These streaming numbers only include those who tune in to the series on HBO Max, and not cable TV viewers. The zombie series is the only HBO Max show to crack the top 10 of Nielsen’s overall streaming list from January 16-22, as the rest of the list is dominated by Netflix programming. The House of the Dragon will have the opportunity to demonstrate its power with the viewers when the second season arrives.
