Survey shows 10 million Americans will miss work due to Game of Thrones finale, causing $3.3 billion loss to businesses

The eight-year-long HBO hit series Game of Thrones is coming to an end, and while the final season has hit record lows in ratings, it has hit record highs in viewership. The Workforce Institute at Kronos estimates that 27.2 million employees will be affected by watching the latest episodes, costing U.S. companies $3.3 billion.

The management consulting firm conducted a survey of 1,090 adults called "Absence Is Coming." The survey found that one-third of people will watch the long-awaited TV finale of "Game of Thrones," and about 22% plan to skip work on Monday. Based on this ratio, it is expected that 10.7 million American adults will skip work the next day, and about 5.8 million employees who need to work on Sunday night will take leave to go home and watch the finale.

The survey predicts that 27.2 million adult viewers who planned to watch the "Game of Thrones" finale will be affected the next day and will be less productive than usual, and the survey estimates that about 2.9 million people will be late.

The survey also estimated that since the final season of Game of Thrones premiered on April 14, the latest episodes have affected the attendance and work performance of 20.4 million employees, of which 4.4 million employees have neglected work to catch up on the show, and 35.8 million employees have wasted at least one hour of work time each week talking, reading or posting about Game of Thrones online.

Executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas calculated that the impact of Game of Thrones on employees has cost employers $3.3 billion in lost productivity. That’s not as much as the $4.4 billion lost from the 2019 Super Bowl, but it’s still a lot of money. Consulting firm Robert Half found that 30% of employees “waste time of the day” socializing and chatting, while a quarter admitted to being addicted to the internet for non-business-related purposes.

The final season of Game of Thrones has received mixed reviews, with the last two episodes in particular leaving many long-time fans feeling unhappy. A petition on Change.org calling on HBO to reshoot season eight with "competent writers" has attracted nearly 400,000 signatures. The budget for the final six episodes is estimated at $15 million each.

According to IMDB data, the ratings of the latest two episodes hit the lowest level in the history of the entire series, with scores of 6.8 and 6.1 respectively on a 10-point scale, with more than 100,000 audience comments. In comparison, the Red Wedding episode in the third season received 75,000 comments and a nearly perfect 9.9. The eighth season is the least popular season so far, with no episode currently rated higher than 8.7.

Despite this, Game of Thrones is still setting records for audiences. The latest episode set a record for the highest viewership in history, with 18.4 million viewers. Some industry insiders even expect that the last episode will be watched by more than 20 million people when the world learns the final winner of Game of Thrones during the 80-minute finale aired on May 19.