
An experienced leader in the information technology (IT) sector, Graeme Queen joined Standard Insurance Company in Portland, Oregon, as senior director, IT solution delivery, in 2011. When he is not overseeing a range of application development and support services for various Standard Insurance business units, Graeme Queen enjoys following prestige television series such as The Wire and Game of Thrones.
By virtually any applicable metric, HBO’s Game of Thrones stands as one of the most popular and successful television series of all time. It broke numerous viewership records for the network and has won more Emmy awards than any television show in history. The series finale drew 19.3 million viewers in 2019, a record for the show and network. However, the number of viewers that tuned in to the HBO drama is reflective of just how much the television landscape has changed in recent decades.
The viewership record for a series finale belongs to the military dramedy MASH, which was watched by 105 million individuals in 1983 and took up 77 percent of the available television sets in the country at the time. While these viewership and television share records are unlikely to be broken, series finales for Cheers, The Fugitive, and Seinfeld all drew between 76 and 80 million viewers, numbers unheard of in present day television. Home Improvement, a successful but rarely discussed sitcom today, said farewell to an audience nearly double the size of the Games of Thrones finale.
The rise of streaming services, along with the general growth of the television and entertainment businesses, have no doubt impacted television ratings. That said, video-on-demand technology cannot be overlooked. The Game of Thrones series finale was watched by nearly six million viewers on streaming services, which allow for rewatches at any point. This convenience was simply not afforded to audiences in 1967, who desperately wanted to know the identity of the One-Armed Man, the mysterious antagonist of The Fugitive.