'Game of Thrones' Season 8 Premiere Sets HBO Streaming Record

It’s a miracle that all of HBO’s streaming services didn’t crash last night with the onslaught of viewers tuning in to watch "Winterfell," the first episode of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones (though some people did complain of a few difficulties trying to watch).

The night broke HBO’s streaming record, with 17.4 million views of the new episode on Sunday night. The previous record was held by "The Dragon and the Wolf," the show’s season 7 finale, which attracted 16.9 million viewers (the season 7 premiere garnered just under that, with 16.1 million views).

Game of Thrones wasn’t the only HBO show that benefited from the epic series' record-breaking audience: Barry had its largest audience ever with 2.2 million viewers; Veep brought in 1.5 millions viewers, its biggest audience turnout since July 2016; and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver had 1.7 million viewers, making it the show’s most successful broadcast since August 2017.

We can’t wait to see what the numbers look like for the series finale of Game of Thrones. Last night was only the beginning.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.