House of the Dragon pulled in great ratings for its first season. The show benefited from name recognition — it’s a prequel to Game of Thrones, the biggest hit in the history of HBO — as well as the fact that it was pretty damn good.
But it also had great marketing. HBO poured a lot of resources into making sure that people knew about House of the Dragon, advertising it in print, on TV, and of course, on social media.
One of the newest kids of the social media block is TikTok, where it’s all about bit-sized videos. Speaking at the Variety x TikTok Culture Catalysts Dinner last week, content creator Frankie Smith talked about how important the service had been in getting the word out about the new show:
"I think what was so great about the ‘House of the Dragon’ marketing was… it was so personal, and it gave us something to react over. But beyond that, we can now have conversations via TikTok through the stitch feature, through the duet feature, and now we can react to the things that we’re seeing that ‘House of the Dragon’ is sharing with us."
HBO pushed hard to market House of the Dragon on TikTok
Every social media service wants to be the place where people go to have conversations, and TikTok is no exception. “It’s about that conversation that’s happening in the comments and the way that you’re able to respond and foster deeper dives into those opinions,” said TikTok executive Kinney Edwards, who was on a panel with Smith and a couple of HBO executives.
Right now, TikTok is definitely winning that fight; it’s growing faster than rivals like Facebook and Twitter, although if the last several years have taught us anything, it’s that the next social media obsession can come out of nowhere. TikTok was the new Twitter, but who knows what will be the new TikTok?
We’ll find out together. In the meantime, feel free to follow the WinterIsComing TikTok!
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h/t Variety