- With a huge international following HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ is undoubtedly the most popular TV show in the world.
- Season 8 will consist of only 6 episodes.
- Season 8 will premiere on HBO Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 9 PM Eastern.
The TV viewing landscape has been altered forever by the digital revolution. A few decades ago, however, broadcast TV ruled the airwaves and the big hit shows were watched by tens of millions of viewers a week. Today, only a few shows can aggregate more than 10 million viewers a week and the number drops every year. The forthcoming Season 8 debut of Game of Thrones is expected to be the most watched television show in cable TV history. Even so, I’ve set the viewership Over/Under at 12.25 million.
Game of Thrones could be the end of an era for a variety of reasons. It could be one of the last ‘appointment viewing’ programs where an audience watches at a specific date and time. It might even be the last time that any TV program is consistently watched by such a large audience. Following the Season 6 finale, Time Magazine called it the ‘last consensus show on television’. The real audience size for the season premiere of Game of Thrones will be tough to measure–even in the United States alone. If all of the various methods of viewing the show–authorized or not–are factored in the viewership could exceed 50 million.
It doesn’t really fit the profile of a show that would gain so much mass audience traction in an era of supposedly short attention spans and immediate gratification. Famous (or infamous) for it’s huge cast and complex, meandering plotlines, it contradicts the conventional wisdom that the only way to find a huge television audience is by racing to the bottom and finding the ‘lowest common denominator’. Then again, HBO was disrupting the legacy analog broadcast industry years before anyone had a clue what the concept of ‘disruption’ means. Ironically, HBO is now the incumbent industry giant that is the primary target of a new era of digital content distribution.
.The complexity of Game of Thrones makes it a natural for discussion, theorizing and speculation among it’s passionate fanbase. It also makes it a natural for our favorite form of ‘speculation’ here at Sports Insider–betting odds. Below you’ll find the most extensive selection of Game of Thrones Season 8 betting odds available anywhere in the world. Look for additional Game of Thrones Season 8 betting odds in the weeks to come:
GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8 BETTING ODDS
RULER OF WESTEROS END OF SEASON 8
Bran Stark +250
Jon Snow +350
Daenerys Targaryen +600
Sansa Stark +700
Arya Stark +700
Gendry +1500
The Night's King +1500
Tyrion Lannister +2000
Tyrion Lannister +2000
Julia Carter +2000
Lord Varys +2500
Euron Greyjoy +2500
Cersei Lannister +3500
Davos Seaworth +3500
Samwell Tarly +5000
Field +7500
FIRST CHARACTER TO DIE IN SEASON 8
Yara Greyjoy +350
Tormund Giantsbane +500
Theon Greyjoy +750
Euron Greyjoy +750
Gregor Clegane/The Mountain +750
Sandor Clegane/The Hound +1000
Gendry +1500
Bronn of the Blackwater +1500
Davos Seaworth +1750
Brienne Tart +1750
Jorah Mormont +2000
Cersei Lannister +2000
Lord Varys +2500
The Night King +2500
Arya Stark +2500
Samwell Tarly +3500
Tyrion Lannister +4500
Sansa Stark +4500
Jaime Lannister +6000
Daenerys Targaryen +6000
Bran Stark +7500
Jon Snow +7500
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Gregor Clegane/The Mountain -350
Sandor Clegane/The Hound +300
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Cersei Lannister -350
Daenerys Targaryen +300
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Arya Stark -180
Sansa Stark +150
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Bran Stark +300
Jon Snow -350
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Melisanda +300
Davos Seaworth -350
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Gilly -750
Hot Pie +600
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Brienne Tart +300
Tormund Giantsbane -350
CHARACTER TO DIE FIRST IN SEASON 8
Lord Varys -450
Bronn of the Blackwater +375
FIRST GREYJOY TO DIE IN SEASON 8
Yara Greyjoy -225
Theon Greyjoy +210
Euron Greyjoy +210
FIRST LANNIESTER TO DIE IN SEASON 8
Cersei Lannister -175
Tyrion Lannister +150
Jaime Lannister +225
FIRST STARK TO DIE IN SEASON 8
Arya Stark -135
Sansa Stark +125
Bran Stark +210
SEASON 8 EPISODE 1 US VIEWERSHIP
Over 12.25 Million -150
Under 12.25 Million +130
