I didn't expect this.
https://www.ign.com/articles/house-of-the-dragon-largest-premiere-in-hbo-history
Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is HBO Max’s biggest premiere ever. The show’s debut episode was watched by 9.986 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max – the largest audience for any new show in HBO’s history.
I'm not surprised. When I went for the GoT music concert after the series ended, it was in a venue that could hold 15,000 people. It was almost packed. and the crowd cheered for most of the season 8 visuals. I don't think the internet reaction fully captures GoT popularity.
I am not surprised this show does well. I am rooting for this show and different people are involved.
But season 8 definitely did damage, at least where I live.
It was the next in line of the liked of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Marvel in terms of merchandise mainstay. Three of those brands were always present in stores and nerd circles despite not having new major entries in many years. I had several housemates with GOT posters on their doors and clothing articles in my student time. We even had an official GOT cooking book we used. But After season 8, pretty much all merch went into the bargain bins here and the brand dissapeared from being a common sight everywhere.
As for the record viewerships, HBO max was not an accessible thing in many countries during Game of Thrones. In The Netherlands I don't know a single person that watched it legally because HBO was locked behind an internet provider me and others did not have acces to. It was the most pirated show ever I believe, worldwide (talking about 8+ million of downloads on torrents alone for a single episode at the end of s8). There are many more legit viewers now, HBO max is fairly cheap. That does help the numbers significantly I feel.
GOT is obviously still huge and this new series has big potential, but if it had sticked the landing it would be in a much better state and that is a damn shame.