‘Game of Thrones’ season 5, episode 2 ratings: ‘The House of Black and White’ down versus premiere

If anyone out there thought that “Game of Thrones” would actually improve its ratings in the second week following the premiere, we are looking at you right now in the same way that Lady Olenna looks at almost everything. It’s extremely rare for a show to actually gain an audience following a premiere, especially one that it five years into it’s run. The majority of the people who watch are already locked in at this point.

“The House of Black and White” ultimately ended up drawing a 3.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and also 6.8 million viewers (the more important metric for HBO, which does not rely on advertising), which is a fairly decent drop from the first week the show was on the air this year. Granted, this is still incredibly impressive given that these viewers are all paying for the subscription, and that many choose to watch On-Demand or on their DVRs throughout the week. Also, remember here that many people out there watched the first four episodes when they were all leaked earlier this month.

The real test of this season’s strength to us is going to be when the show airs its fifth episode. That is the first one without the leak, meaning that everyone (including the press, presumably) will be going into the season blindly.

One thing we do wonder is why HBO has not opted to do some sort of aftershow in the same way that “The Walking Dead” does with “Talking Dead.” We know that they do not need the ad revenue, but it feels like a smart way to double-down, and then move a show like “Veep” to another night where it can serve as its own anchor. We enjoy it, but it really does not fit with the other programming that the network has on that night.

To see more reactions to this past episode, watch the video over at the link here. Also, you can sign up to score more TV news on all we over via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: HBO.)