BEYOND THE NUMBERS
THE NEWS BEHIND THE RATINGS
WESTEROS WONDER The seventh-season opener of HBO’s Game of Thrones drew a record 10.1 MILLION same-day viewers, up from 7.9 million last year, and claimed 16.1 million with streaming included.
SPORTS BEAT Fox’s MLB’s All-Star Game ( 9.3 MILLION viewers Tuesday) was up from last year’s 8.7 million; ESPN’s Home Run Derby ( 8.2 MILLION Monday) was way up from last year, to its biggest crowd since 2008. But the ESPY Awards ( 5.3 MILLION Wednesday) dipped 5% from last year.
SUMMER OPENERS CBS sci-fi drama Salvation opened Wednesday with 4.9 MILLION same-day viewers. FX’s The Strain (Sunday) and USA’s Suits (Wednesday) returned with 1.4 MILLION same-day viewers apiece.