Game of Thrones' set a new viewership record thanks to all the streaming of its return

Sunday's "Game of Thrones" broke HBO's viewership record - with help from streaming viewers. 

The season-six premiere netted 10.7 million total viewers. That includes the premiere at 9 p.m., two repeat airings, and live streaming numbers from HBO Go and HBO Now, according to Entertainment Weekly.

That means it's the network's most-watched episode ever, beating the 9.8 millions viewers for season five's premiere and the 10.3 million viewers for that same season's finale.

That's the good news and probably reflects the reality of TV watching today.

The so-so news is that without the streaming viewership and repeats, the fantasy drama came up basically matching season five's premiere numbers with 7.9 million viewers.

These numbers don't reflect the viewers who tuned into "Thrones" as part of HBO's free weekend. TV ratings service Nielsen only counts those who are subscribers of HBO.