{"id":50823,"date":"2022-08-20T05:18:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T05:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/hbos-marketing-campaign-valued-at-100m-deadline\/"},"modified":"2022-08-20T05:18:47","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T05:18:47","slug":"hbos-marketing-campaign-valued-at-100m-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/hbos-marketing-campaign-valued-at-100m-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"HBO’s Marketing Campaign Valued At $100M+ \u2013 Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EXCLUSIVE: <\/strong>For all the noise about David Zaslav’s quest to find $3 billion in cost-saving initiatives at the newly merged Warner Bros Discovery, what remains important to the new CEO is to spend on content where those dollars pay off.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHBO<\/span>
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And where is that? Why, on the launch of HBO’s near $200M game of Thrones <\/em>spinoff series, House of the Dragon<\/em>, premiering this Sunday on both the linear pay-TV channel and streaming service HBO Max. Sources inform deadline<\/em> that HBO’s biggest marketing campaign ever is valued at over $100M in media spend (that’s a combo of ad spot value and hard cash shelled out). That’s a theatrical tentpole-sized marketing budget by all accounts, not some thrifty, Netflix-type push to subscribers on its menu. And as Zaslav pointed out today in his congratulatory memo to staffers (obtained by deadline<\/em>) before House of the Dragon<\/em>‘s debut, it’s already paid off with the series campaign having \u201creached nearly 130 million people in the US alone,\u201d while also repping a united front across a majority of brands in the Warner Bros Discovery empire to tubthump this new show.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tPia Barlow, HBO Max EVP Originals Marketing<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgetty<\/span>
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in speaking to deadline,<\/em> Pia Barlow, EVP of HBO Originals Marketing, said the mo of the House of the Dragon <\/em>marketing campaign was to \u201cgalvanize both new and existing fans,\u201d that demo being men and women, 18-54.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe House of the Dragon<\/em> campaign is really about generating big, broad awareness and interest throughout the summer, but to also make sure we’re signaling to existing fans as well as new fans alike that this is a new game of Thrones<\/em> story coming to HBO Max,\u201d Barlow adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has also been exciting to see teams across the company work collaboratively with the HBO team in what has been an unprecedented cross-promotional campaign. And we’ve done all of this in just a few short months, clearly showing what we can accomplish when our networks, streaming platforms, digital and social channels all work collectively in support of one shared priority,\u201d Zaslav emphasized this AM. He outlined the conglom’s plan to micro target viewers in a marketing push that has spanned social media, outdoor, digital, traditional TV spots and splashy promotions on such distribution partners like Xfinity cable (where there’s a HOTD <\/em>destination on their X1 and Flex video platforms) and Roku, which also produced a special episode of their content buzz show, The Roku Rundown.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t‘House of the Dragon’ fire-breathing banner on HGTV.<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHGTV<\/span>
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If the House of Targaryen is rich in dragons, then Warner Bros Discovery has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to ad space, with HOTD <\/em>getting pumped across such channels, per advertising stat org iSpot, as TBS (20.9%), Discovery (9.1%), TNT (7.7%), CNN (7.4%) and Food Network (6.6%). If you were watching HGTV, you’d catch a fire-breathing dragon popping up in the bottom of the screen during your favorite show in a banner to promote the Ryan J. Condal co-created series. iSpot also reports that 99.1% of HBO’s promo TV ad impressions since July 20 came from HOTD. <\/em><\/p>\n

Another notable mention in the teamwork for HOTD<\/em> among Warner Bros Discovery channels was the exclusive look at the Martin series on the debut night of Discovery’s Shark Week <\/em>on Sunday, July 24. Want more cross-promotion? How about the members of TNT’s All Elite Wrestling team sitting on the new ASS <\/em>throne from HOTD <\/em>at the San Diego Comic-Con experience (read down).<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/span>
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In regards to the future success of HBO Max, Zaslav has made it clear that it’s in the catalog of series and marquee Warner Bros theatrical titles hitting the service 45 days after they’re in cinemas. Warner Bros Discovery bean counters see zero upside to distributing movies directly to HBO Max like the previous WarnerMedia regime under Jason Kilar. It’s a tremendous waste of money, and their availability in theaters and homes simultaneously diminishes their patina, as well as their resonance in subsequent ancillary windows.<\/p>\n

Not to mention there’s research out there to prove that frosh subscribers come for a movie, then bail on the service. It’s the weekly drop of a hot episodic series such as HOTD <\/em>which keeps subs locked in. Not to mention, windowed theatrical films on HBO Max click better than day-and-date. We’ve heard that the first weekend of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore <\/em>on HBO Max after its 45 days in theaters ($95M domestic box office) drove close to 20% of the traffic to the OTT service, while in the pic’s first week, it was responsible for a third of HBO Max’s traffic.<\/p>\n

In addition, third-party streaming measurement org Samba TV reported that the first week of The Batman <\/em>on HBO Max (after its 45-day theatrical run) pulled in 4.1 million households, besting the first week of such day-and-date Warner movies as The Suicide Squad<\/em> (3.5M), Wonder Woman 1984 <\/em>(3.2M), The Matrix Resurrections <\/em>(3.2M) and dune <\/em>(2.3M).<\/p>\n

the HOTD <\/em>campaign kicked off with two teaser trailers released on Oct. 5, 2021 (17.1M YouTube views) and May 5, 2022 (14M YT views). But then the marketing mojo kicked into high gear heading into San Diego Comic-Con, which saw a walk-up trailer drop (July 20, 18.8M YT view), the Hall H panel with the cast, Condal, and an extended trailer; the DracARys dragon-egg hatching app, and The House of the Dragon: Dragon’s Den <\/em>live experience; the latter pulling in 4k attendees who walked through the series’ castle world adorned with actors in cosplay. All of these efforts continue to shine for HBO’s social media; SDCC being \u201cthe gift that keeps on giving,\u201d says Barlow, yielding 102M impressions and 128K new followers on the House of the Dragon <\/em>and game of Thrones <\/em>social channels.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSelect the (dragon’s) egg wisely\u201d #HouseoftheDragon<\/a> #SDCC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1aB6mcYoFx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 21, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Learning the way of the dragon #HouseoftheDragon<\/a> #SDCC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ZbQcb6q9tD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 21, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Says Barlow about HOTD’<\/em>s big footprint at Comic-Con, \u201cThe timing couldn’t have been more perfect. It was right in our launch window, and because it was the first time we were going to be back truly in full force after a few years, we knew that there was going to be this pent-up demand and excitement from fans, and we ‘ve had pretty significant presence in the past with game of Thrones<\/em> at Comic-Con. So, there was almost an expectation that we also wanted to make sure we were fulfilling for fans.\u201d<\/p>\n