Game of Thrones is certainly a hit, but some are starting to question HBO’s reliance on the series, even suggesting that they’re dropping the ball when it comes to original content lately. Assaf Henkin, senior vice president of brand intelligence at Amobee, wonders if HBO if putting too many “dragon eggs” in the Game of Thrones basket. He notes that Netflix, Amazon, Showtime, Hulu and Starz are making bigger and bigger moves into the content. “Time will tell if HBO has additional original programming to fuel its marketing and connection with subscribers,” he said.
That being said, it still drives more social engagement than any other program on the network right now. Between March 18, 2015 and April 18, 2016, there was at least 4.2 times more digital content around Game of Thrones than around any other program on HBO, with Vice generating the next most HBO-related digital content engagement.
In the same time period, Game of Thrones generated 4.9 times more HB
Vinyl, which was supposed to be HBO’s next great program, only generated 6 percent as much HBO related digital content engagement as Game of Thrones in the last 13 months.
The new season is bound to drive just as much conversation during season six. But it’s time for HBO to give viewers something else to talk about, especially as big Netflix releases like Orange is the New Black take over the summer.