Advanced Television

1.6m view Sky’s Game of Thrones opener

May 29, 2013

By Colin Mann

game-of-thronesStuart Murphy, Director of Sky’s entertainment channels, has revealed viewing figures for the broadcaster’s major entertainment shows during April, which show significant consumption other than at the time of live broadcast.

Writing in the Sky Views blog, Murphy says that what is great is the number of people who are watching their favourite shows at a time or a place that suits them, outside of the show’s traditional TV transmission time. “It’s exactly what I do, watching shows on my phone on the way into work,” he advises.

“We went big on thrilling drama in April, with the return of two of people’s favourite series: the second season of Sky 1’s Touch, with Kiefer Sutherland, and the hugely-anticipated third season of Game of Thrones on Sky Atlantic,” he continues.

In total, more than 1.6m Sky customers watched the opening episode of the new season of Game of Thrones, with half a million watching the show live on Sky Atlantic and a further 750,000 recording the show on their Sky+HD box to watch later in the week. Nearly one in ten downloaded the show through On Demand on their Internet-connected Sky set-top box, while a further 230,000 streamed the series launch through Sky’s mobile TV service Sky Go.

“Sky 1’s Arrow – which is now the biggest rating US show ever on a non-terrestrial channel – and Sky Atlantic’s The Following were also huge in Sky+ homes, with more than 1.2 million recording Arrow to watch later, and over a million adding The Following to their Sky+ planner. Also in the top ten list for April is another show dedicated to the heroes among us – the launch episode of our breakout hit Greggs: More Than Meats The Pie (despite us picking the daftest programme title ever). And once again, Sky 1’s Revolution (my kids’ favourite TV show) tops the list for the second month running,” says Murphy.

According to Murphy, the figures demonstrate really clearly that all of us love watching TV when we want, where we want – whether it’s live, or recording to watch later or viewing on demand. “Sorry to sound corny, but flexibility really is a core part of what we offer at Sky, included as part of your basic package, and it’s one of the many reasons I love it here. If you haven’t tried watching TV in this way, give it a go. It feels like you’re living in the future,” he adds.

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