Game of Thrones didn't premiere until 2 a.m. in the UK, but despite the early morning hours, half a million viewers still tuned in.
For the premiere telecast, 538,000 people in the UK sat down at 2 a.m. to watch, reports The Telegraph. Another 664,000 watched the Monday night showing of the fourth season first episode.
Combined those numbers set a new ratings record for Game of Thrones. The episode is now the most-watched episode in the UK for the HBO drama.
While the numbers are good for the UK, they were even better for the U.S. premiere on Sunday night. The initial telecast was watched by 6.6 million viewers and combined with the following telecast of the premiere, about 8.2 million watched the episode.
The 6.6 million viewers was a 50 percent increase from last season's premiere and a 22 percent bump from the finale. The episode became the most-watched episode of an HBO program since The Sopranos bowed out back in 2007.
Enough people also wanted to watch the fourth season premiere through HBO's streaming platform HBO Go, that the service crashed. The same issue plagued the finale of True Detective in March.