"Game of Thrones" began its sixth season Sunday night (read our recap), and while on-air viewership dropped slightly, the episode set streaming records to end up with a total of 10.7 million viewers.

The 9 p.m. broadcast on HBO drew 8 million viewers, which is 1 percent down from last season's premiere. Previously, every season of "Game of Thrones" premiered to bigger ratings than the last. But adding in the two repeats, as well as same-day streaming figures from HBO Go and HBO Now, bumps up the final tally to a new high for the fantasy drama. The premium network has seen subscribers migrate to its new HBO Now standalone service.​

Those ratings also do not count viewers who tuned in for HBO's free preview weekend, as Nielsen only counts subscribers. Nor do they factor in pirated viewings; TorrentFreak announced that "Game of Thrones" remains the most-downloaded television series.

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