This article comes from the WeChat public account "Daily Economic News".
I am a sword in the dark, a guard on the Great Wall. I am the flame against the cold, the light at dawn, the horn to awaken the sleeper, and the shield to guard the kingdom. I dedicate my life and glory to the night watchman, tonight, every night.
,,,,,,,,, s,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 0, 3, of the words that will be on the vows of the night watch.
At 9 o'clock on April 15th, Beijing time, the eighth season of "Game of Thrones" (English name "Game of Thrones", hereinafter referred to as "GoT") officially met with the audience.
has been airing since April 2011. GoT has launched seven consecutive seasons. Its movie-like images and fascinating plot have attracted a large number of audiences around the world and become one of the hottest TV series ever.
But at the same time, the sophisticated props, epic battle scenes and realistic CG effects in the drama are expensive. According to CNBC reports, GoT's production cost per episode in the first season was as high as 6 million US dollars, and it climbed to 8 million US dollars in the fifth season. In the sixth season, the production cost per episode was as high as 10 million US dollars. 10 episodes meant a cost of 100 million US dollars. In the eighth season, although had only 6 episodes, the single set cost reached 15 million US dollars (about 100 million yuan), and the total production cost exceeded 100 million US dollars .
is different from general TV shows that have advertisements or sponsors. Viewers cannot see advertisements in GoT, and there are no sponsors at the end of the film. The TV channel and website of its distributor HBO have no advertisements. How does
make a profit?
has no advertising and sponsorship, how can GoT make a profit?
HBO's profitability first depends on subscriptions. HBO relies on the quality of its content to stimulate viewers to purchase and renew.
According to data given by HBO, GoT had 20.2 million viewers in the United States in 2015, breaking the previous record holder "The Sopranos", who became the domestic ratings champion with 14.4 million viewers in 2003. .
According to data from the Nielsen Institute of Media, in the seventh season of GoT, the average number of viewers per episode exceeded 10 million in the United States alone. This also means that in the United States alone, the seventh season of GoT brought HBO to HBO. Revenue of 1.07 billion US dollars.
According to the financial report of HBO parent company Time Warner, as of December 31, 2017, the total number of subscribers to HBO cable TV stations, streaming media platforms HBO NOW and HBO digital distribution partners in the United States reached 54 million. HBO's revenue in 2017 reached 6.3 billion US dollars, of which subscription revenue reached 5.5 billion US dollars .
In 2018, HBO TV station and streaming media platform received a total of 6.6 billion US dollars in revenue, of which operating income exceeded 2 billion US dollars .
In addition, most of the loyal audience not only enjoy the plot of "Game of Thrones", its movie-like picture is also an important experience. Previously, HBO replayed the last two episodes of the fourth season in IMAX theaters, with a total box office of approximately $2 million in the first weekend.
Although it is difficult to determine how many users GoT brings to HBO from the total number of subscribers alone, from a global perspective, has had 142 million subscribers worldwide from the start of the show in 2011 to 2018. , More than Netflix (NFLX.US) . And as HBO's "head of the girl", GoT certainly contributed.
sells copyrights and sells peripherals, and has diversified channels for attracting money. In addition to paying users, DVD sales, overseas copyright transactions, and derivative licenses are also GoT's main gold attracting channels.
In 2014, Tencent Video and HBO reached a strategic cooperation to package and introduce 900 episodes of American dramas including GoT, and become HBO’s nationalExclusive authorized broadcasting platform on the intranet.
According to the "2014 Tencent Entertainment White Paper TV", the average price per episode of American dramas introduced in China is 30,000 US dollars. The 60 episodes in the first six seasons of GoT are 1.8 million US dollars, which is equivalent to more than 12 million yuan. The ratio is very cheap. The exclusive broadcasting rights of the video websites of "Ruyi's Royal Love in the World" and "Win the World" released in 2016 are priced at 9 million per episode and 8 million per episode respectively.
Image source: Gameof Thrones official Twitter
. Like other magical IPs such as "The Lord of the Rings", "Warcraft", and "Warhammer", GoT's peripheral derivatives are also diverse, including figures, mobile phone cases, and maps in the play. In addition to the "small objects" such as clothing and clothing, there are also large objects such as the Iron Throne and "Long Claws", as well as comics, games, stamps, and even beer and sneakers.
In October last year, the world-famous Scotch whisky brand Johnnie Walker and HBO jointly launched the "Game of Thrones" whiskey-White Walker by Johnnie Walker, the bottle will show a line well-known to fans after refrigeration: "Winter is Here".
At present, in JD Johnnie Walker's self-operated flagship store, this bottle of whisky priced at 259 yuan has more than 260,000 reviews. According to this calculation, just a GoT whiskey, alone brought 67.34 million yuan in income to it . Many buying netizens said, " is for the IP of "Game of Thrones", not the wine itself. After tasted the sweetness of "
, in early March this year, Johnnie Walker’s parent company Diageo was authorized by HBO again. Launched a set of GoT-themed co-branded whiskey. The set of co-branded whiskies has a total of 8 bottles. Diageo, according to the characteristics of its 8 wineries, corresponds to the seven families and the Night Watch Legion in GoT. In addition to
, there are games adapted from GoT. In 2012, Cyanide Studios developed an RPG game of the same name, featuring Night Watchmen/Red Priests, showing the appearance of the troubled times of Westeros on the side. In 2014, console game manufacturer Telltale Games launched a console version of the graphic adventure game. The protagonist is the forest clan mentioned in the original but not seen.
HBO’s profit "secret"
For many years, HBO's revenue has relied on subscription users to pay (and some copyright distribution), without advertising. Therefore, for HBO, the most critical indicator that affects the fate of the program is the continuous satisfaction of subscribers, not the ratings and the number of viewers.
Therefore, HBO has always dared to take risks in subject matter and type.
When GoT was launched in 2010, there was no TV series on the market that dared to invest heavily in costume themes, not to mention that the story took place in a fictitious world. HBO itself had a stumble on the costume drama "Rome".
According to the American media Fast Company, before GoT produced the pilot episode, two screenwriters David Benioff and Dan Weiss met Richard Plepler (former HBO president) in New York, and the two hit it off. Just before the shooting of
, a bad news came that the BBC, which was originally involved in, suddenly withdrew, which means that HBO must independently bear the production cost of about 6 million US dollars per episode of .
But later GoT’s performance proved HBO’s vision, and I don’t know if the BBC regrets it...
GoT stills (Source: HBO official website)
In addition to content control, HBO is also well versed in "the way of publicity". When the pound series is launched, HBO will hold a Hollywood blockbuster premiere for it. In 2001, when "Brothers" was broadcast, HBO directly moved the premiere to the beach where the Allied forces landed in Normandy.
In 2009, in order to match the "vampire drink" that appeared in the "True Love as Blood" drama, HBO even developed a drink that mimics the color of blood and sold it online, which later triggered the trend of "blood bag drinks".
After GoT, HBO has achieved the ultimate in marketing. Before the start of the second season of
, HBO packaged two large open pages of the "New York Times" with only a dragon silhouette. This great idea is better than any promotional copy.
Image source: related reports from foreign media
In 2014, HBO invited Queen Elizabeth II to the filming site to visit the "Iron Throne", successfully earning free screens by global media.
Image source: related reports from foreign media
At the same time, HBO insists on broadcasting once a week, often whipping up the appetite of the audience, but ensuring that the popularity of the work gets enough time to ferment. There is a lot of suspense for GoT and "Western World". This is especially true for works. Although
has grown rapidly in recent years, after the acquisition of HBO by the American telecom giant AT&T in 2018, people have also added a bit of concern about the future development of HBO.
Richard Plepler, who had been at the helm of HBO, resigned due to "concepts." In the view of the new owner, AT&T, HBO must not only add a large amount of content, but also consider how to deal with the reality of distracting audiences in the mobile era. This business strategy runs counter to the “boutique route” that HBO has always adhered to before. Competitor Netflix's "pianhai tactics" are somewhat similar.
At present, HBO's trump card-GoT has entered the final season. After the end of GOT, how many users will leave HBO is also worrying-The Hollywood Reporter's recent sample survey of 2,000 American TV viewers shows that, Among them, 28% said they might cancel their streaming media subscription after a certain TV series they like.
