Game of Thrones return a ratings hit, despite mixed reviews

  • 26/04/2016
Carice Van Houte as Melisandre, the Red Woman, in Game of Thrones
Carice Van Houte as Melisandre, the Red Woman, in Game of Thrones

*This article contains no spoilers*

Game of Thrones was a ratings and filesharing hit when it returned yesterday with season six debut 'The Red Woman', despite getting mixed reviews.

In Australia, the episode was seen by a massive 727,000 viewers, smashing records to become the most watched programme in the country's subscription TV history.

Foxtel's previous record was held by the All Blacks and Wallabies Rugby World Cup semi-final in 2011.

Nielsen has not yet released the US ratings of the show, but it has grown steadily year-on-year with an average 9.5 million viewers per episode during season five. The new season is expected to be higher still.

The TV adaptation of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series has always been popular with illegal downloaders, and S06E01 was no exception -- TorrentFreak.com reports it was downloaded more than a million times in just half a day.

Although pirated versions of the episode were viewed in New Zealand, it didn't have a major effect on internet speeds here.

"We noticed a slight increase in overall traffic across the Orcon, Slingshot and Flip customer base yesterday evening, but nothing significant," says Taryn Hamilton, consumer general manager at Vocus NZ.

"That said, as Game of Thrones is the most downloaded show in history, it's a fair assumption that plenty of Kiwis may have streamed or downloaded the first episode."

Critically, 'The Red Woman' fared well, but not greatly -- it currently has a rating of 74 on review aggregator Metacritic.

Many positive reviews made reference of the show's tone being somewhat less grim.

"Though the season premiere delivers the power and pathos fans have come to expect, there is, in fact, a slight but still identifiable shift: Game of Thrones is, in more than a few moments, funny," writes Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times.

As the season premiere spanned almost all of the multiple ongoing storylines, it was criticised by some for being a collection of brief vignettes.

"Table-setting episodes often lack cumulative weight, and I think that's probably the case with 'The Red Woman'," writes Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter.

"There isn't room for a single character to have an in-episode journey, but instead we get many characters giving their initial responses to how things changed for them after the events of last season's finale."

Social media predictably ignited as the episode aired, with a large number of posts addressing its shock ending -- which featured simultaneously nudity and a revelation about a character's true age.

Season six reportedly cost HBO a hefty US$100 million to produce, making it one of the most expensive TV shows ever produced.

Newshub.