‘House Of The Dragon’: HBO’s Largest Marketing Push Ever Valued At $100M+ Tentpole Proportions

Specific: For all the noise about David Zaslav’s quest to find $3 billion in cost-savings initiatives in the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery, what’s important to the new CEO is to spend on content where those dollars pay off. Is.

and where is that? Why, HBO’s close to $200M . at the launch of game of Thrones spinoff series, dragon house, premiering this Sunday on both the Linear pay-TV channel and the streaming service HBO Max. the sources tell time limit That HBO’s biggest marketing campaign to date is worth over $100M in media spend (it’s a combo of ad spot value and hard cash shelled out). It’s a dramatic tent-shaped marketing budget by all accounts, not some frugal, Netflix-type customer push on its menu. And as Zaslav pointed out in his congratulatory memo to employees today (obtained by) time limit) before this dragon houseAs of 2016, it has already paid off with the series campaign “reaching approximately 130 million people in the US alone”, while Warner Bros. is also a united front across most of the Discovery Empire brands to tubethump this new show. has been repeated.

in talking to time limit, HBO Original Marketing EVP Pia Barlow said dragon house The marketing campaign was to “inspire fans both new and existing”, that demo being male and female, 18–54.

,dragon house The campaign is really about creating broad, widespread awareness and interest over the summer, but also making sure we’re signaling to existing fans as well as new fans that this is a new one. game of Thrones The story to come in HBO Max,” says Barlow.

“It’s also been exciting to see teams at the company working closely with the HBO team in what has been an unprecedented cross-promotional campaign. And we’ve done all this in just a few months, clearly showing what we’ve achieved.” when our networks, streaming platforms, digital and social channels all work collectively in support of a shared priority,” Zaslav emphasized this AM. He outlined the group’s plan for a micro-target audience in a marketing push that focused on social media, the outdoors, digital, traditional TV spots and Xfinity cable (where a warm destinations on their X1 and Flex Video platforms) and Roku, who also produced a special episode of their Content Buzz show, Roku rundown.

If House of Targaryen is rich in dragons, Warner Bros. Discovery faces an embarrassment of riches in ad space, with warm Per ad stat org iSpot, is being pumped on such channels as TBS (20.9%), Discovery (9.1%), TNT (7.7%), CNN (7.4%) and Food Network (6.6%). If you were watching HGTV, you might have heard of Ryan J. You’ll see a fire-breathing dragon at the bottom of the screen during your favorite show to promote the series co-produced by Kondall. iSpot also reports that 99.1% of HBO’s promo TV ad impressions have come from July 20. warm.

Another Notable Mention in Teamwork warm The Warner Bros. Discovery channels had a special look at the Martin series on the first night of Discovery shark Week on Sunday, 24 July. Want more cross-promotion? What’s new about the members of TNT’s All Elite Wrestling team? Received throne from warm at the San Diego Comic-Con experience (read below).

With regard to the future success of HBO Max, Zaslav has made it clear that the series and marquee are on Warner Bros.’s list of theatrical titles coming to the service after 45 days in theaters. Warner Bros. sees zero upside to distributing movies directly to HBO Max like the previous WarnerMedia regime under Discovery Bean counter Jason Killer. This is a tremendous waste of money, and their availability in theaters and homes simultaneously diminishes their patina, as well as their resonance in later supporting windows.

Not to mention that there’s research out there to prove that Frosh customers flock to a movie, then bail on the service. This is the weekly drop of a hot episodic series like warm Which keeps the subscription locked. Not to mention, window theatrical movies on HBO Max click better than day and date. We have heard that. first weekend of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore After its 45 days in theaters on HBO Max ($95 million domestic box office) it drove about 20% of traffic for the OTT service, while in the first week of stills, it accounted for a third of HBO Max’s traffic.

In addition, third-party streaming measurement organization Samba TV reported that the first week of Batman Drawn in 4.1 million homes on HBO Max (after its 45-day theatrical run), the best of its first week of Warner films of such day and date. suicide squad (3.5 m), Wonder Woman 1984 (3.2 m), Matrix Resurrection (3.2M) and Dune (2.3 m).

warm The campaign kicked off with two teaser trailers released on October 5, 2021 (17.1M YouTube views) and May 5, 2022 (14M YT views). But then marketing mojo kicked into high gear heading into San Diego Comic-Con, seen with a walk-up trailer drop (July 20, 18.8M YT views), Hall H panel cast, condles, and an extended trailer; Dracaris Dragon-Egg Hatching App, and Dragon’s House: Dragon’s Den live experience; The latter pulls in 4k attendees passing through the castle world of the series, adorned with actors in cosplay. All these efforts continue to shine through on HBO’s social media; SDCC “is the gift that keeps on giving,” says Barlow, garners 102M impressions and 128K new followers dragon house And game of Thrones social channel.

“Choose (Dragon’s) Eggs Wisely” #HouseoftheDragon #SDCC pic.twitter.com/1aB6mcYoFx

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) 21 July 2022

learn the way of the dragon #HouseoftheDragon #SDCC pic.twitter.com/ZbQcb6q9tD

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) 21 July 2022

says about barlow warm’Large footprint at Comic-Con, “The timing couldn’t be more right. It was right in our launch window, and because it was the first time we were going to really come back in full force after a few years, we knew that This demand and excitement from fans was bound to grow, and we have had a significant presence in the past with game of Thrones At Comic-Con. So, there was almost an expectation that we also want to make sure that we are catering to the fans. ,

Social media analytics firm Relishmix looked at how loud the volume was warm, stating that HBO “took a solid organic approach to attracting fans of” Received Franchise social network of 44.1M – to connect them with new social channels as casting in preproduction warmFacebook is now built on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.” Add in HBO Max’s followers and the social media universe reaches close to 313M thanks to the new Westeros World Series.

RelishMix said in its latest report, “The flood of content is not, but selectively posted, only 12 videos on Facebook with 11.1M views and less on YouTube with 134.2M views, cross-broadcast across all earned channels.” have been posted.” time limit. “Comic-Con announcements and live panels sparked a wave of content leading up to the streaming premiere weekend.”

Also on premiere day this Sunday is tackling the world of a new Snapchat selfie + AR lens that will run through the first season. AR developers, a member of Snap’s global lens network, are building custom Landmark AR experiences in their local markets, including AR rendering warm As dragons they take over global destinations. Landmarker lenses will be unlockable via the lens carousel when SnapchatClose to a remarkable location. The lens will be available in Australia, parts of Europe, India, the Middle East and North Africa, North America and other regions. The custom Landmarker AR Experience will launch this Sunday in Chennai, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Prague and Rio de Janeiro.

between promo partners warm, Bose, whose sound system was featured throughout Dragon’s Den At SDCC and Duolingo, which debuted on July 19, with fans learning High Valyrian ahead of the HOTD premiere. The app’s TikTok viral mascot made an appearance on warm Comic-Con activation, where he reminded attendees to complete their lesson with Dragon Command in High Valyrian with life-sized push notifications and prompts.

Plus, among promo partners, there’s a one-month pop-up experience for the series at LA’s Natural History Museum starting August 5. 7. Inspired by the exhibition one can witness the discovery of the relics and traditions of real-life reigns such as Ancient Rome or Ancient Egypt. warm Displays props, costumes, and specially designed exhibits to highlight the history of Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors.

It would be wise to say that the stakes are high here in the rollout of dragon house, not from the future Received With respect to the development franchise angle, but also the rating. final season of game of Thrones big shoes for dragon house To fill in, and before that HBO had the power of HBO Max. Received Its final season averaged 46M per episode domestically, and RelishMix notes that social media is full of crap from people who are “still not satisfied with the ending.” excitement By comparison, Season 2 episodes, which had the added advantage of HBO Max, averaged 19.5 million viewers across all platforms.

Nevertheless, RelishMix notes the social chatter where “there is enthusiasm for a new journey back in time 200 years ago. Received – From protective dragon lovers who insist that ‘no dragons were hurt in the making of the show’ and feel they are the core of the story – to Matt Smith super fans who are on edge – to HBO fans For those who like the history of quality programming.”

A rating for Unexpected warm This will no doubt be one of the early victories for Zaslav’s management style, which all looks to break down the walls between the Warner Bros. Discovery brands and increase their synergy to the nth degree.

Beamed Zaslav said in concluding his company’s email today, “We are committed to building a team with a mission – the third of three strategic priorities that I highlighted in my recent earnings call – and efforts in support of the launch. dragon house It’s a great indication of how strong we are and what we can do when we work together.”