With Game of Thrones over after eight seasons and 73 episodes, HBO was looking at a huge potential loss in subscribers with its conclusion. Their biggest show ever, the fantasy epic set a ratings record for the premium cable destination with its divisive finale. However, app analytics specialist Sensor Tower has indicated with new data that the network will be just fine if their HBO Now revenue is anything to go by, even if it might be a touch too early to say for certain.
New data provided by Sensor Tower to Variety reveals that HBO Now was able to keep 84 percent of the revenue from recent subscribers in the first billing cycle following the finale of Game of Thrones. Losing 16 percent of subscribers was worse than the 7 percent drop post–Season 7 of GoT, but it also pales in comparison to the 40 percent drop after Season 6 finished in 2016. After Season 5, there was a 22 percent drop.
"The app’s gross revenue on the first billing cycle for new subscribers after the premiere was $1.9 million," explained Senor Tower's head of mobile insights Randy Nelson. "For the first billing cycle following the show’s finale, this dropped to $1.6 million."
Of course, this revenue is only from HBO Now, which is just a fraction of HBO's total earnings. The data Sensor Tower has access to is only from customers who use Google or Apple as their billing providers, too.
HBO Now is available without coming directly from HBO, too, as users can subscribe via Amazon and Hulu among others. Regardless, it would appear as though things are looking positive for HBO. AT&T will report their Q2 earnings on July 24, which will offer a more clear indication of the post-GoT performance.
