HBO is preparing to face the perils of after – "Game of Thrones".



[ad_1]

The most popular television show comes to an end when the new owner, AT & T, increases the pressure to deliver new successes, "successor" spinoffs and more volume to compete with Netflix. . How many viewers are going out with the Lannisters?

<! -[CDATA[[CDATA[[CDATA[[CDATA[

On April 3, HBO celebrated the last season of Game of thrones with a sensational premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York. But some of the staff feel bittersweet as they look forward to the victory. In mid-May, the network's long-standing cash cow, probably the world's most popular TV show, airs its latest original episode – setting the stage for increased milking pressure The Thrones Intellectual property for the new parent AT & T, which acquired the assets of Time Warner for $ 85 billion. "Game of thrones Craig Moffett, a telecommunications analyst and founding partner of MoffettNathanson, has become the cornerstone of HBO. It has always been painful, but more so now that they are losing a lot of their leadership positions. "

Moffett speaks, of course, of the recent exit of long-time CEO Richard Plepler and several other senior executives who have become television flagship flags under the umbrella of WarnerMedia, to strengthen its streaming platform. With an audience now exceeding 30 million episodes in the United States alone, The Thrones will be an essential selling point on this platform, even in death – just like the vault of animated feature films and Star wars The library will be for a future competitor, Disney +.

For HBO, priority now relies on The Thrones& # 39; s success in getting a spin-off ready for prime time. At least four sets of "successors" are in various stages of development. One, written by author George R.R. Martin and filmmaker Jane Goldman (Kingsman: the secret service), will shoot a pilot during the summer. Naomi Watts, a two-time Academy Award nominee, is one of those featured on the show. The network took its time with the original The Thrones, who spent four years in development and saw 90% of the expensive attempt of the original driver after a redesign (the production of each of the last six episodes costs well over $ 10 million). But it's a small price to pay since some analysts are now pricing the franchise at over $ 1 billion.

Some sources question whether WarnerMedia's new CEO John Stankey's regime will allow such patience and spending this time. Since his arrival, Stankey has made it clear that HBO's mandate is to produce more content to cope with the rush of Netflix and Amazon. After Plepler's departure and the addition of former NBC President Bob Greenblatt to WarnerMedia, Stankey spoke with THR about the change in production that already took place last year with the publication of at least one "significant and significant content" each month. While production is expected to increase further, the industry expects the HBO development schedule to tighten.

Admittedly, the fallout is not a guarantee of success. AMC, in particular, found decent odds and stability in the companions of gigantic successes The dead who walk and breaking Bad. But none of the follow-ups, Fear the undead and You better call Saul, has always managed to attract even half the audience of what the mother series did at its peak.

"We want to be careful not to overdo it," said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. THR in February, warning that multiple benefits were neither planned nor excluded. "Game of thrones has been an incredible show for us, but what we are doing is a much more diverse list, so we are not in a position of duty [keep] the franchise is running or the lights are turning off at HBO. "

HBO remains a formidable television power with or without The Thrones. Carrying fees reached an unprecedented level, averaging $ 7.77 per month, by S & P Global Market Intelligence. With soaring cable outages, the network's OTT service takes over. Streaming only HBO has exceeded 7 million US subscribers in 2018. The same year, the only one since The Thrones& # 39; In 2011, the cable channel and its related streamer generated a business turnover and operating profit in the range of $ 6.6 billion north of $ 2 billion .

And HBO will use The Thrones& # 39; final season as a promotional platform for upcoming series – the chef among them Big little liessecond season, the Zendaya drama Euphoria and Damon Lindelof & # 39; s guardians adaptation. The most promising heir of all, it seems, but sources say that the company is particularly proud of the dramas coming a little further along the lines of heavyweights like Joss Whedon (Nevers) and J.J. Abrams (Demimonde).

Losing a huge televised success is a rite of passage, not to mention a complex problem, but the current scenario of HBO differs by its revenue model. Of course, CBS will lose viewers when The Big Bang Theory finishes his magnificent series as a flagship series of the same week as The Thrones disconnects. But the broadcast network will not lose any paid subscribers. And though there is no evidence establishing a correlation between pay-TV subscribers and any given show, it remains the case that HBO's global footprint has increased by 52 per cent. % in the last eight years. The Thrones created. Some of those 142 million subscribers in the world can come out with the show.

A THR/ A Morning Consult survey conducted on March 25 and 26 reveals that, out of a sample of more than 2,000 US adults, 28% canceled their subscription to a streaming service after airing a program they liked to stop to broadcast. About the same group, nearly half admitted to subscribe to a service only to watch a show.

But like the nine-digit streaming offers for the friends, Seinfeld and The simpsons Libraries illustrate, it's not just new programs that help attract and retain subscribers. For the moment, HBO and WarnerMedia can at least console themselves with the fact that 73 episodes of Game of thrones They will be in perpetuity – but that will not relieve the proposed benefits and other ongoing projects.

"Once you have a global success like Game of thrones, a bar that transcends the audience you thought you knew and could count on, the bar is just very different, "said a television literary agent. Hollywood has always sought success by seeking out models. Why else would Amazon spend $ 1 billion on the Lord of the Rings? "

Lesley Goldberg contributed to this report.

This story also appears in the April 3 issue of Hollywood Reporter. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

[ad_2]

Source link