Ratings Watch: Game of Thrones & America’s Got Talent Battle For No. 1

To paraphrase everyone’s favorite “Game of Thrones” star, Ed Sheeran: HBO is on its way to another castle on Nielsen hill.

(Apologies for that.) After three days worth of time-shifted DVR and VOD usage, last Sunday’s Season 7 premiere of “Game of Thrones” jumped to a 5.6 rating among adults 18-49, obliterating everything in its path. That was up 19% from the show’s already strong live+same day number.

What’s more, the rebroadcasts that night of last year’s finale, as well as the premiere (which repeated at 10:05 p.m. ET) also made it into the week’s top 25 adults 18-49 chart.

Earlier in the week, HBO reported that the Season 7 premiere reached a gross audience of 16.1 million viewers (Linear Plays + Same Day DVR Playback + HBOGO/HBO NOW) up 50 percent from last year’s premiere. Per HBO, that performance set a record as the most watched premiere night in HBO’s history for any series.

But, hold the door: NBC’s summer stalwart “America’s Got Talent” is still a powerful force in total viewers, scoring enough viewers to win the week – 15.3 million vs. “Game of Thrones” (at 12.2 million). Both saw healthy 21% gains with time shifting.

America’s pasttime also had a good week, as ESPN’s coverage of the “Home Run Derby” averaged 8.3 million viewers and a 2.7 rating in the demo (putting it in third place). And Fox’s “MLB All-Star Game” averaged 9.4 million viewers and a 2.4 in the demo.

Besides “Game of Thrones,” the week’s other big premiere in the adults 18-49 demo was Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of OC” (1.1 rating). CBS’ “Salvation” made the top 25 total viewers chart in its debut, with 6.2 million viewers. Just bubbling under: FX’s “Strain,” which averaged a 0.9 rating in the demo (which “Salvation” also achieved).

Here are this week’s rankers:

Total viewers ranker, week ending July 16, 2017:

RANK	SHOW & NETWORK	LIVE+3 DAYS DVR/VOD	WATCHED LIVE/ SAME DAY
1	America’s Got Talent NBC	15.29	12.59
2	Game of Thrones HBO	12.20	10.12
3	MLB All-Star Game Fox	9.38	9.28
4	World of Dance NBC	8.88	7.07
5	Home Run Derby ESPN	8.33	8.18
6	America’s Got Talent (Thursday) NBC	8.14	7.10
7	Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS	7.60	6.46
8	Big Brother (Sunday) CBS	7.42	5.96
9	Big Brother (Thursday) CBS	7.41	6.12
10	The Bachelorette ABC	6.86	5.66
11	Celebrity Family Feud ABC	6.83	6.22
12	NCIS CBS	6.81	6.55
13	The Wall NBC	6.56	6.05
14	Little Big Shots: Forever Young NBC	6.53	6.08
15	The Big Bang Theory CBS	6.37	6.14
16	American Ninja Warrior NBC	6.25	5.62
17	60 Minutes CBS	6.23	6.02
18	Salvation CBS	6.19	4.90
19	Night Shift NBC	5.75	4.41
20	ESPY Awards ABC	5.55	5.32
21	NCIS: New Orleans CBS	5.48	5.16
22	$100,000 Pyramid ABC	5.02	4.50
23	Dateline Friday NBC	4.99	3.99
24	Steve Harvey’s Funderdome ABC	4.62	4.43
25	Masterchef Fox	4.53	3.50

Total viewers; in millions

Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending July 16, 2017:

RANK	SHOW & NETWORK	LIVE+3 DAYS DVR/VOD RATING	WATCHED LIVE/ SAME DAY RATING
1	Game of Thrones HBO	5.6	4.7
2	America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC	3.2	2.5
3	Home Run Derby ESPN	2.7	2.6
4	Big Brother (Sunday) CBS	2.5	1.8
5	MLB All-Star Game Fox Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS	2.4 2.4	2.3 1.9
7	Big Brother (Thursday) CBS	2.3	1.8
8	World of Dance NBC	2.2	1.7
9	The Bachelorette ABC	1.9	1.4
10	Love & Hip Hop Atlanta 6 VH1	1.7	1.3
11	American Ninja Warrior NBC	1.6	1.4
12	ESPY Awards ABC America’s Got Talent (Thursday) NBC	1.5 1.5	1.4 1.3
14	Game of Thrones (S6 Finale Repeat) HBO Basketball Wives 6 VH1	1.4 1.4	1.4 1.1
16	Masterchef Fox The Wall NBC	1.3 1.3	1.0 1.2
18	Celebrity Family Feud ABC Spartan: Team Challenge NBC Copa Oro 2017 12 Univision	1.2 1.2 1.2	1.1 1.0 1.2
21	Real Housewives of OC Bravo Game of Thrones (S7 Premiere Repeat) HBO Power Starz WWE Raw (8 p.m.) USA WWE Raw (9 p.m.) USA WWE Raw (10 p.m.) USA	1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1	0.6 1.0 0.7 1.0 1.0 1.0