Game of Thrones fans might not be the only ones sad the show will be ending next month. Releasing its quarterly earning reports yesterday, HBO’s new corporate overlord AT&T revealed that the company failed to meet revenue estimates. IndieWire summarized the report:
"WarnerMedia’s operating revenues for Q1 2019 came in at $8.38 billion, with $1.3 billion of that coming in from HBO subscriptions, touted by AT&T as an indicator of growth for its digital subscription service. However, the overall revenue number was still below the $8.45 billion Wall Street expected, leading to an almost 5% drop in AT&T stock by mid-day."
Come on, they only missed the mark by 70 million dollars, what’s the big deal?
Anyways, IndieWire suggests that part of the reason for the stock drop may be because investors are afraid of what will happen to HBO subscriptions once Thrones is over (personally I’m sticking around for the Deadwood movie, and them I’m out). It’s not an unfounded fear, as Variety has reported dips in HBO subscriptions each time a new season of Game of Thrones season has ended. And with roughly and eighth of WarnerMedia’s revenue coming from HBO subscriptions, you can understand the worry.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for those who make money off of the show. An Associated Press report explores the wide world of Game of Thrones merchandising, and how it’s unlikely to go away when the show is over. “As long as there’s new content, then the franchise will continue to be popular,” says product and licensing expert Tony Lisanti. “And that content doesn’t have to be another series.”
What he means is that even if HBO’s upcoming prequel series doesn’t turn out to be the hit its parent show was, we’re still in for an avalanche of merch, which as of now includes everything from Oreos to Adidas running shoes. Now where’s the line of Sandor Clegane-brand chicken seasoning I’ve been asking for since season 4?
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h/t CNBC , The Colombian