Game of Thrones Season 6 Premiere Sets Overall Viewing Record, Despite On-Air Drop

HBO's hit fantasy show Game of Thrones returned to screens this weekend, and the viewing figures for the first episode of season six have now been revealed.

As reported by EW, in total, the episode pulled in 10.7 million viewers, which sets an all-time record for the show. However, this is the overall figure from several combined sources, namely the on-air broadcast, two repeat showings, and early figures from HBO's two streaming services.

Overall, this figure is up from both season's five premiere (9.7 million), and the previous series high, which saw season five's finale pull in 10.3 million viewers.

However, with the repeats and streaming services HBO Go and HBO Now boosting the numbers, it means that there was in fact a drop in viewers of the Sunday night on-air broadcast. The total watching the episode as it went out was in fact 7.9 million, which is a four percent dip from season five last year.

Yesterday [April 25], Variety reported that the demand for the show via streaming apps caused outages and network issues. HBO offered a statement on the issue, saying: "There was a small number of HBO Now subscribers receiving an error message. The problem was quickly recognized and resolved.

"Overall, both HBO Go and HBO Now remained stable under unprecedented traffic."