Fans may not know the new talent behind their favorite characters or be aware that their favorite actors are part of a new show. To attract new audiences and drive conversation about upcoming shows, HBO Max sought to develop an original video series for social channels centered around the cast. The goal was to introduce talent across the HBO Max social ecosystem to drive excitement and anticipation ahead of the premiere while sustaining fan engagement through the season, without revealing any spoilers.

Breaking the traditional interview style, HBO Max paired talent for a new video series called "Get to Know." Segments ranged from their favorite scene, to film, to their drink of choice simultaneously introducing the new cast and encouraging paired talent to get to know each other better.

Our strategy was to target not only the general HBO and HBO Max audiences of 25-34 year olds, but to also peak the interest of the under 25 demographic by focusing on the platforms they are predominantly on and engage with.

Strategically dropped throughout the run of highlighted shows, the Get To Know series feeds continued conversation and captures secondary audiences with cutdowns aimed at shareability. As new characters emerged throughout the season, viewers were delighted with fresh interviews featuring the latest additions. Short-form clips were strategically shared across TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter to sustain engagement throughout the series.

In total, the House of the Dragon Get to Know YouTube series and cut down videos garnered more than 150 million views and over 8.5 million engagements. The YouTube community particularly loved getting to know House of the Dragon's Matt and Milly - they shared over 2,200 comments expressing their excitement for the cast and the talent’s chemistry.

The Last of Us stars Pedro and Bella garnered 3,299 comments on YouTube with 4.3 million views on that video alone.

House of the Dragon and The Last of Us were HBO's first and second highest viewed premieres at 10 and 4.7 million respectively, while House of the Dragon went on to have the largest finale viewership since Game of Thrones.