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Does HBO Have A Problem With Millennials Now That 'Game Of Thrones' Is Over?

This article is more than 4 years old.

When it comes to millennial viewers, “winter” has arrived for HBO in the wake of the finale of Game of Thrones.

At least, that’s the conclusion that market research firm InMyArea Research came to after surveying 1,000 consumers aged 22 to 38 who watched the WarnerMedia premium channel in the past three months.

According to InMyArea, one in three HBO subscribers have either canceled or are planning on canceling HBO.

Of course, that figure doesn’t tell the whole story because the poll also found that 26% of millennials “borrow” someone else’s HBO account. HBO can take solace in the fact that rival Netflix has it worse, with 35% of respondents admitting they “share” accounts. Other analysts have come to a similar conclusion.

“If a third of millennial GoT viewers cancel HBO after saying goodbye to Westeros (the fictional continent where much of the show takes place), the network could lose a core audience segment and significant subscription revenue,” according to InMyArea.

Young viewers aged 22 to 38 were among the most loyal viewers of GoT, sustaining the medieval fantasy drama for eight seasons as evidenced by the show’s many memes and social media posts. During the past two seasons, the show averaged 10 million views. Its season 8 premiere got 17.4 million streams, the most of any episode in the history of HBO.

GoT had three times the viewership of Westworld, the channel’s second-most-watched show, and eclipsed other hits including Chernobyl and Big Little Lies, according to InMyArea.

"Our data has shown that content is king and consumers are choosing specific shows over brands," InMyArea managing director John Busby writes in an email. "In addition, we’ve gone from just a few streaming TV services to dozens, and as competition intensifies, we expect that consumers will be choosing carefully what to buy (and which accounts to 'borrow' from friends)."

HBO recently unveiled plans for its streaming service HBO Max, which will feature all 236 episodes of Friends, which had been one of the most popular shows on Netflix. Another Netflix fan favorite, The Office, is returning “home” to NBC starting in 2021 when the Comcast-owned network is scheduled to launch its own streaming service.

At least six senior WarnerMedia executives, including longtime HBO head Richard Plepler, have left the company in the wake of the company’s $85 billion sale to AT&T in 2018. Plepler was reportedly annoyed when WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey told HBO employees that the network, which earned more than $2 billion in 2017, wasn’t profitable enough.

“As someone who had grown accustomed to running his own shop, he seemed to chafe under his new boss from the start,” the New York Times wrote. “His departure shows that AT&T is likely to be an active steward of Warner Media, one that did not hesitate to disrupt a network that is the division’s crown jewel.”

HBO didn't respond to a request for comment.

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