In quarter 1 & 2, HBO has been focusing in lower funnel media to drive acquisition. However, as House of the Dragon is deemed to be one the most anticipated series in 2022, it’s a big opportunity for HBO to be in the spotlight and grow their subscriber base both organic & paid. A holistic media approach is deployed to exponentially recruit subscribers during the launch

Set before the events of the widely successful Game of Thrones series, House of The Dragon tells the beginning of the end of House Targaryen as part of the events leading up to the civil war. Different and with a fierier tone and dragon-filled battles, the show is an invitation to be part of the HOTD story on HBOGO.

We time travelled back to where dragons filled the lands and ruled the skies, leveraging on a RTB that differentiates the show from others. Through the journey where users see the rise and fall of House Targaryen, the emotional attachment users build towards the two factions will help the brand reign a new pop culture phenomenon.

HBOGO’s target audience are 18–44-year-olds who are Game of Thrones superfans and drama-action-fantasy lovers. A mix of integrated media is utilised to drive hype and buzz through offline and relevance through online.

To generate buzz around the series, a slew of 3D Out Of Home screens strategically located amongst high traffic areas in central Manila, Bangkok, and Jakarta featuring the using the mythical creature to capture users’ attention. Additionally, burning billboard were also developed throughout the cities with smoke so real that people called the firefighters thinking it was a real fire.

To generate demand we partnered with high impact display advertising partners leverage on their audience which see strong interest in the series & unique creative formats to bring the 3D dragons to user’s phones. Coupled with biddable media across SEM, social media, app, and programmatic display efforts to capture the demand generated from our awareness activation

Full funnel media execution is deployed. On the upper to middle funnel, we leverage immersive Out Of Home Media and digital across 3 main markets (PH, TH, ID).

In Digital, we use high reach and impact display advertising network Twitch and Teads to exponentially increase reach. We also leverage social media like Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok to gain maximum eyeballs & drive brand engagement.

On the lower funnel, we leverage Paid Search, App-based ads (UAC, Apple Search Ads), and cross channel retargeting on social media to ensure targeting to capture the demand.

When implementing for the campaign, the team ensured to not target existing HBO subscribers to maximize return on investment. We also adapted ad phasing to minimize creative fatigue over time.

Our OOH media reached over 87 million people across Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, while in Digital, we reach over 42% people of the digital population.

Brand searches increased by 2x. Creative phasing helped to improve our ad view through by 124%

Subscribers’ volume +21%. We hit our record of below $10 cost per subscription. Paid attributed conversion achieved 2x higher vs pre-HOTD period. Inorganic subs increase by 3x while weekly inorganic subs +60% vs pre-HOTD period

House Of the Dragon became HBO’s best debut in the last decade.