English Entertainment
Star World Premiere HD launches digital campaign for Game of Thrones
MUMBAI: Game of Thrones has radically altered the TV viewing experience and perhaps has the most unprecedented fan following on the internet, be it the gamut of fan fiction sites that churn out the wildest theories, or the various social media platforms that see massive outreach on daily basis. Finally, the sixth season of the show premiered on Indian television on Star World Premiere HD and brought with it the madness that followed on both, the digital universe as well as on-ground.
With a view to establish massive connect with fans of the show, Star World Premiere HD went all out to tap into the digital space by launching a unique and ‘first-time-ever for Game of Thrones’initiative called ‘Flock to Unlock’ in association with Twitter. The activity required Twitter users to mention the ‘10 reasons why they love GoT’ in order to unlock a Game of Thrones musical promo released in India for the first time ever.
The channel launched the innovative day long activity on April 25 Aprilth, a day prior to the show premiere from 4 PM to 9PMand received a response that only served to reaffirm the impact of the grand show. The hashtag #GOT6onSWP used for the activity helped garner a massive estimated 80.3 million impressions and trended nationally and across cities on Twitter for more than 5 hours The initiative spread like wildfire and even got brands like Sony Pictures and Payback India to join the conversation using the hashtag.
But the fervor around the show didn’t stop here!In a bid to own Tuesdays and make it synonymous to GoT Tuesdays in India, the channel commenced yet another initiative ‘Amazon Fanlords’ on March 29 March th – 4 Tuesdays prior to the massively anticipated premiere of the show.
The channel launched the groundbreaking activity to mete out widespread enthusiasm among fansweeks prior to the premiere of the show and keep them excited throughout the 10 episode duration of season 6. The activity allowed Twitter users to participate in contests every Tuesdayand win exclusive Game of Thrones merchandise by becoming the Amazon Fanlord for the week. On the day of the launch, however, Star World Premiere HD went a step further to extend its offering for the entire day with one question each hour starting from 4 pmPM right till 10 pmPM.
The day of the premiere also saw an integration of the on-air platform as the viewers were directed to Star World Premiere HD at 10PM to answer the questions that would be aired during the show.
The activity met with an unequivocal success garnering over a whopping 107 million impressions and 15,569 tweets on the day of the premiere alone. Star World Premiere HD also trended nationally all through 6 PM to 1AM. Moreover between March 29 March th and April 26 Aprilth, all the digital activities carried out garnered an astoundingover 243 million impressions with nearly 40,000 tweets.
With the stunning success of digital marketing campaigns initiated and owned by Star World Premiere HD, it looks like the channel has successfully created legions of Game of Thrones fanatics on social media in India through extensive engagement!
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
