House of the Dragon drives Nielsen gains on HBO Max
HBO Max's "House of the Dragon" recorded a 46% week-over-week climb in viewing minutes to 931 million through June 28, 2026, according to Nielsen household TV streaming data cited in Media Play News reporting dated July 24, 2026. The increase coincided with a new episode premiering on June 28. Conviva's separate streaming ratings for the week of June 22–28, 2026 recorded the same 46% increase in viewing minutes on HBO Max following the season three premiere, according to ipmarketingco.com reporting dated July 24, 2026.
Climbing the overall and acquired charts
The fantasy series moved up two spots to No. 7 on the overall streaming chart and rose to No. 3 on the acquired chart in Nielsen's weekly ranking, per the Media Play News report. The gains came in a week led overall by Netflix's Harlan Coben adaptation "I Will Find You" at 2.48 billion minutes and Peacock's "Love Island USA" at nearly 2 billion minutes.
Superman returns to the HBO Max movie chart
The 2025 Superman film reappeared on the Nielsen movie chart with 241 million minutes on HBO Max, a resurgence Media Play News tied to the June 26 theatrical release of "Supergirl." The film had previously spent three consecutive weeks on the top 10 movies chart when it began streaming in the fall of 2025.
Premiere record as historical context
For background, the original "House of the Dragon" series premiere in August 2022 drew a record 10 million U.S. viewers — more than double the 4.2 million who watched HBO's "Game of Thrones" debut in 2011 — according to Warner Bros. Discovery figures cited in Sacnilk coverage dated August 24, 2022. Samba TV separately estimated 2.6 million U.S. households watched within six hours of the 9 p.m. ET premiere, the highest single-day premium cable or streaming premiere viewership of that year, surpassing Netflix's "Stranger Things" Season 4 same-day figure of 1.2 million U.S. households.
Next milestone
Media Play News and ipmarketingco.com both pointed to upcoming weekly Nielsen and Conviva streaming rankings for the period following June 28, 2026, which would capture further momentum from additional "House of the Dragon" season three episodes.
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