Final live+7 DVR numbers are in for the premiere of Game of Thrones, and they are very good. The premiere was seen by 12.7 million people. That number is actually short of the 15 million viewers who watched the season 7 finale of The Walking Dead, but the Game of Thrones numbers do not include people who watched on HBO GO and HBO Now, and we know that at least 6 million people watched on those platforms on the night of the premiere alone.
In other words, while The Walking Dead still technically holds the record for highest-rated show in the Nielsen ratings, Game of Thrones leads when it comes to all platforms.
But what about right now, in July? What scripted cable television comes after Game of Thrones in the ratings? Nothing else is close. In fact, Game of Thrones is seen by 4 times more people than the next scripted cable program.
What is next? Believe it or not, it is USA Network’s Suits.
Yep, Suits, now in its seventh season on USA Network, is also the highest rated show on that network. In fact, it’s outlived all the the procedural programming that sprang up on the network in the “Character Welcome” era: White Collar, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, Graceland and Burn Notice have all come and gone, but Suits still not only exists, but thrives on the network, and no doubt helps the network pay for some of the more edgy programming in the “We the Bold” era, like Mr. Robot and Falling Water. In fact, Suits is even getting its own spinoff soon.
Beyond Suits, here’s where the rest of scripted cable sits in July 2017 (all ratings are Live+7):
3. Power — 2.6 (Starz)
4. The Strain — 2.5 (FX)
5. Preacher — 2.33 (AMC)
6. Animal Kingdom — 2.33 (TNT)
7. Queen Sugar — 2.3 (OWN)
8. Queen of the South — 2.0 (USA)
9. Snowfall — 1.9 (FX)
10. Nashville — 1.6 (CMT)
Note that Live+7 ratings for Ballers and Insecure have not been released yet, but overnight ratings gave them 2.4 million and 1.1 million viewers, respectively.
(Via TVByTheNumbers)
