Ratings: ‘True Blood’ season 6 down vs. last year’s premiere, ‘Game of Thrones’ finale

It’s starting to become clear now that “True Blood” is no longer the tent-pole of HBO’s lineup. Just last year, it was pretty unequivocal that when it comes to people viewing live, the vampire drama was still #1 in total viewers along with the 18-49 demographic. However, it now feels like the White Walkers have come and started to do some damage to everyone in the town of Bon Temps. If the current ratings trend holds, “Game of Thrones” may now officially take the reigns as the network’s top show when it comes to both live and repeat viewing.

Overall, Sunday night’s “True Blood” season 6 premiere drew an audience of 4.5 million viewers. While still impressive, this is down 700,000 (well over 10%) from the start of season 5. Meanwhile, the “Game of Thrones” finale drew almost 5.4 million viewers for its finale. (Since this is HBO, the demo really does not matter so much unless you really want to compare the shows to other networks.)

There are all sorts of interesting comparisons that you can make to explain these numbers. For one, “True Blood” was up against Game 5 of the NBA Finals (which typically gets high ratings), while “Game of Thrones” was up against one of the earlier games in the series. “True Blood” can also boast that it beat the “Game of Thrones” season 3 premiere numbers, but that was when the show aired up against the finale to “The Walking Dead,” and the two shows share a similar audience.

Regardless of the lower number, “True Blood” is still a smash hit anyway, and there is little doubt that this will not be the end for the show. However, we do imagine that we will be saying goodbye to Louisiana and its vampires in a year or two’s time.

Want to know more about the future of “True Blood”? Then watch the video for the rest of this season at the link here.

Photo: HBO