Between Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Game of Thrones, it was a big weekend for HBO (not to mention Veep and Silicon Valley, of course). Amobee Brand Intelligence was tracking sentiment and engagement throughout the weekend to see how fans were feeling the lineup this season and subscribing to HBO Now for one-off’s like a Beyoncé album. Take this lesson away if nothing else: Only Beyoncé could sell HBO Go subscriptions that quickly.
There was 10.9 times more digital content engagement around HBO’s over the top services on Saturday compared to the daily average of digital content engagement around HBO Go during the rest of the last 3 months.With HBO Now, there was 10.6 times more digital content engagement around HBO Now on April 24 than the daily average of digital content engagement around HBO Now between January 24 and April 23, 2016. That means the day of the Game of Thrones Season 6 premiere, there was more than 10 times the digital interest in watching HBO on second screens and as buying it as an OTT.
Overall, digital content engagement around HBO increased 126 percent on April 24 compared to April 23. However, with HBO debuting four big premieres during the weekend, the new season of Game of Thrones,Silicon Valley, Veep, and the Beyoncé documentary Lemonade about her new album, not all of these programs had an equal impact. And Game of Thrones, not Beyoncé took the weekend.
On April 24, Beyoncé only had 20 percent as much HBO related digital content engagement as Game of Thrones, while Silicon Valley only had 13 percent as much HBO related digital content engagement as Game of Thrones; and Veep only had 9 percent as much HBO related digital content engagement as Game of Thrones.
On Saturday, there was 137 percent more HBO related digital content engagement around Game of Thrones than Silicon Valley, Veep, and Beyoncé combined. Nothing is as big as Game of Thrones.