'House Of The Dragon' Premiere On HBO Hits Nearly 10 Million — Could Streaming Wins Like This Mean Big Money For Home Theater Companies?

“House of the Dragon” premiered Aug. 21, pulling the largest audience in the history of the HBO network.

The TV series attracted nearly 10 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max when the first episode premiered Sunday, according to Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. WBD. According to HBO, the “Game of Thrones” prequel set a new record for the pay TV channel, surpassing all content that has debuted both before and after the streaming era.

Until Aug. 21, “Game of Thrones” (GoT) remained HBO’s biggest hit. Its first episode drew a massive 4.2 million live viewers back in 2011, and by the end of season 8, a total of 44 million people in 173 countries had watched each episode.

Another series worth including in the conversation is Netflix Inc.’s NFLX “Stranger Things,” which as of July 2022 was the most popular English-language television show on the streaming platform with over 1 billion viewing hours.

To some extent, it may seem unfair to compare GoT, a television series that was released before the streaming era with the other two. Perhaps the reason GoT didn’t garner more viewership than the others is that, at the time of release, the online streaming revolution was still in its infancy.

The last few years have witnessed an exponential growth in online streaming services, disrupting Hollywood’s century-long status quo. The number of video-streaming users is expected to reach more than 1.6 billion by 2027.

Apart from the movie industry, gaming and e-sports have also contributed to the rise in online streaming. According to Statista, there were 234 million e-sports fanatics and 240 million occasional viewers in 2021, generating over $139 billion.

Jaw-Dropping Movie Experience In Your Living Room?

The surge in streaming services has reportedly caused a domino effect on home theaters — an industry that is expected to grow from $22.7 billion in 2021 to $27.24 billion in 2022. Notable companies looking to create revenue in the space include Pixelworks Inc. PXLW, O2Micro International Ltd. OIIM, MaxLinear Inc. MXL and WiSA Technologies Inc. WISA.

WiSA recently made headlines after announcing that two of Hisense’s 2022 U7H and U8H series TVs have earned WiSA SoundSend certification. The WiSA SoundSend certification program was launched in 2021 to ensure seamless connection and integration between TV manufacturers and WiSA SoundSend wireless audio transmitters.

When it comes to having a movie theater-like home experience, usually two things become key: a high-resolution smart television and a great sound system. Connecting WiSA SoundSend to a smart TV like Hisense U7H and U8H can create a complete home cinema audio system with the help of speakers that make use of WiSA HT technology and have received interoperability certification from the WiSA Association.

WiSA’s products are said to deliver up to 24-bit/48kHz or 24-bit/96kHz sample rates, supporting up to 7.1 and 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos, which is twice the quality of CDs, according to WiSA. Because a higher bit rate allows for a broader dynamic range, WiSA-enabled sound systems could provide astonishingly rich sound.

About WiSA

WiSA is a developer of wireless sound technology for smart devices and next-generation entertainment systems. More than 70 leading consumer electronics manufacturers, including LG Corp., Bang & Olufsen, JBL and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have incorporated WiSA’s technology into their brands. One unique feature about WiSA-certified components is that they can wirelessly connect to one another irrespective of the brand.

WiSA says its world-class premium technology ported to low-cost internet-connected modules can address mass-market audio systems with a software roadmap to address the market of over 2 billion units.

The company also reports strong intellectual property in wireless multichannel audio, with 24 issued patents and many others pending filing and approval.

WiSA’s revenue has grown from $600,000 in the first quarter of 2022 to $900,000 in the second quarter. As of June 30, the company reported $4.8 million cash and cash equivalents.

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Featured photo courtesy of WiSA