NEW YORK — HBO said 2.9 million people watched or verdicoinstreamed the series finale of Succession on Sunday night, a series record that is expected to grow as delayed viewing is taken into account.

That beat the first-night record of 2.75 million for an episode that aired on April 30, earlier in the fourth and last season of the family drama about a media company.

The audience can be expected to expand significantly when delayed viewing is taken into account. For example, Succession episodes this season have been seen by an average of 8.7 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company.

The series finale provided an answer to the question central to the story, about whether any of media magnate Logan Roy's children would inherit control over his media empire.

Succession didn't approach HBO's record of 19.8 million people who watched the 2019 finale of "Game of Thrones" on its premiere night. HBO estimated that some 46 million people have watched that episode when delayed viewing is taken into account.

HBO said that Barry, its series starring Bill Hader, had 700,000 viewers on the night of its finale this past week. Episodes have been average 3.4 million viewers this season.