HBO's Game of Thrones conducted their first major live stream marketing campaign by using Facebook Live to announce their Season 7 premiere. During the event, viewers were encouraged to comment with "FIRE" or "DRACARYS" to help burn a block of ice to reveal the premiere date. Cast members, including Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Nikolaj-Coster Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) showed up on the live stream to encourage comments and increase excitement. The live stream did not go as smoothly as planned, but had a certain amount of key takeaways for marketers.

1. GAME OF THRONES LIVE CASE STUDY
FACEBOOK LIVE

2. Game of Thrones
WHAT:
HBO’s Game of Thrones
announces their season
premiere date through an
ice sculpture burning on
Facebook Live

3. Game of Thrones – KPIs
KEY RESULTS (Final Live
Stream):
• 3.6M Views
• 116K Sentiments
• 18K Shares

4. HOW:
GoT started the day by
“teasing” the event with a 12
second video, which, itself,
generated 1.6M views! The
teaser video gave the start
time of the Live event.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
GoT asked people to tune in
to “help reveal”, which
implied audience
participation
Game of Thrones – Teaser

5. Game of Thrones – Comments
HOW:
GoT asked viewers to
comment with “FIRE” or
“DRACARYS” to “reveal the
#GoTS7 date” during the ice
burning
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The comments were not
imperative to the revealing,
but GoT’s wording made it
seem like it was.

6. Game of Thrones – Vanity
HOW:
GoT randomly displayed
commenters in the corner of the
Live event
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Knowing that viewers would
eventually realize that a comment
of “Fire” or “Dracarys” would not
produce any result, GoT still
managed to make it worthwhile
for some by giving them
recognition

7. Game of Thrones – Surprises
HOW:
GoT fan favorite, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau,
appears early in the event (2 min in) telling
the audience that they’re going to want to
stay tuned and they won’t be disappointed
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
His appearance gives the illusion that
there may be other surprise appearances
(there aren’t until the end), which keeps
the audience engrossed. It also breaks up
the monotony of a 17 minute video of only
fire and ice.

8. Game of Thrones – Reveal
HOW:
After 15 minutes, the date is
finally revealed at July 16, 2017
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Between Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
and the reveal date, almost 13
minutes pass of viewers just
watching a flame on ice. This
extended time allows for
commenters to engage —
whether frustration, annoyance,
or passion — it all helps

9. Game of Thrones – Wrap-Up
HOW:
Another series favorite, Liam
Cunningham, ends the event by telling
viewers they will not be disappointed
with the upcoming season
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
While he reveals nothing, we are
reminded of the many different
characters involved in GoT. This also
adds a bit of a personal feel as he
addresses viewers directly to close the
event.

10. Game of Thrones – Mistakes
WHAT:
- The event cut out twice during the live stream, due to “technical difficulties”, which
left viewers annoyed. In all, viewers had to wait over 60 minutes — spread out over
three live streams — to find out the premiere date of Game of Thrones
- Press coverage of the event was overwhelmingly negative, criticizing the length
and mocking HBO for making their fans “watch ice melt”
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Even though viewers were annoyed, each live stream still generated over three
million views. In this instance, all press was good press as all the articles mentioned
the premiere date and reinforced the dedication of GoT fans. It would take a lot for
this diehard fanbase to abandon the show, but the event should’ve been shortened to
no more than 30 minutes.