Game of Thrones returns with record audience for Sky Atlantic

Game of Thrones returned to Sky Atlantic with a record audience of nearly 1.6 million viewers, marking the moment the one-time cult hit went truly mainstream.

The eagerly anticipated fifth series opener of the HBO fantasy drama hit had 1.57 million viewers, a 6.7% share of the audience from 9pm on Monday.

It was a huge audience for Sky Atlantic, 43 times its slot average over the last three months.

Unusually for the pay-TV channel, it also put it ahead of two of the five mainstream channels, including BBC2, which had 1.3 million viewers for new documentary series Inside Harley Street, and Channel 5’s Gotham, watched by 802,000 viewers.

Game of Thrones had more than twice the 675,000 viewers for the equivalent broadcast of the opening episode last year. However, the fourth series opener also had an early morning simulcast, giving it a total first day audience of 1.2 million.

The consolidated audience for the first episode, which will include people who recorded it and watch it over the next seven days, is likely to top 3 million, given changing TV viewing habits.

With more than twice the audience of Sky Atlantic’s most popular homegrown drama, Fortitude, which began with an overnight audience of more than 700,000 and a consolidated rating of 1.7 million, last night’s Game of Thrones was the most popular programme broadcast on Sky Atlantic to date.

Sky, which launched Sky Atlantic off the back of its deal with HBO in 2011, renewed its deal with the US broadcaster last year, meaning Sky will be the home of HBO content in the UK until at least 2020. It also means there will be no UK launch of HBO’s on-demand service any time soon.

Game of Thrones had a 14.5% share of all viewing in Sky homes and was the number one programme in multichannel homes.

The second most popular programme in pay-TV homes was Liverpool’s 2-0 Premier League win over Newcastle United, which had 773,000 viewers, a 3.8% share, on Sky Sports 1.

Game of Thrones was followed on Sky Atlantic by fan show Thronecast, presented by Sue Perkins and Jamie East, which began with 307,000 viewers, a 1.9%, from 10pm, eight times the channel’s slot average.

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BBC1’s election series, The Leader Interviews with Evan Davis began with Nick Clegg and was watched by just over 2 million viewers, down 42% on the channel’s three month slot average.

BBC2 began an election themed programme of its own with Jack Dee’s Election Help Desk. It had just over 1 million viewers, 5.5% of the audience, from 10pm.

Elsewhere, E4’s Made in Chelsea was back with 680,000 viewers, a 2.9% share, while BBC3’s Reggie Yates documentary about Russia, Far Right and Proud, had 303,000 viewers, 1.3% of the audience, from 9pm.