Thanks for the comment. To your first question, I think it’s an issue of visibility combined with maximizing revenue potential. The latter point, I think, speaks to speaking to the existing fanbase, and expanding the revenue potential for the series (albeit, of course, in a limited capacity that wouldn’t fund the show in its entirety). The former, however, speaks more to the importance of HBO’s subscription model: the more people that are aware of the series, the more people might potentially subscribe. Licensing offers more visibility within spaces that we might not normally associate with the HBO audience, and thus a potential expansion of the subscription base (which is part of HBO’s goal with genre programs like Game of Thrones or True Blood).

On your second point, I think it’s less that they’re buying “more production” and more that their support is a way of directly showing their commitment to the series. I was pushing the length limits as it was here, but when I suggest licensing as a space where more seasons might be gained it is less in terms of actual funding and more in terms of evidence of fan commitment that will continue to build/keep subscribers and make the series a draw for HBO.

On that level, it’s fan behavior less similar to indie production and more similar to fan campaigns surrounding series like Chuck, in which fan willingness to purchase subs or coasters is less about money and more about how that support may reflect a stable fan base HBO could rely on for multiple seasons.

I’m a bit curious about what you’d say the goal of the merchandising is for HBO. Do you think the idea is mainly to draw in new viewers (i.e. video game player sees the GoT game, picks it up, and decides to watch the show) or to give existing fans a way to support the production? To me, the second option seems to make more sense (particularly given the “serial” merchandise idea) if only because of the quality control issues you mention with things like the licensed game; the bad reputation of licensed games limits their audience, in many ways, to the pre-existing fanbase.

I find the idea of fans buying the merchandise to support the show interesting in this case because it’s also the logic behind much of indie production on the web. As Karen points out, though, it’s hard to imagine HBO supporting a series like this on coasters and trading cards (just a bit more expensive than Hasbro’s My Little Pony). That seems to put the fan purchase onto uncertain ground–if they’re not buying what they think they’re buying, i.e. more production, is there something troubling here?

And I very much hope that HBO gets enough traction via merch to give them a positive attitude toward continuing the series! One particular advantage of quality merch that’s aimed at a very niche collector audience is that the revenues can continue long after a series is off air…as long as the run was extensive enough.

I agree that there’s no way that licensing will literally “pay” for a season renewal, but I think HBO sees licensing at least in part as a branding exercise. The more merchandise out there, the larger the potential reach of the program, and thus the more subscribers that HBO might draw to the channel. The ancillary revenues will likely be incremental, but given that HBO monetizes “viewers” more directly than broadcast networks through a subscription model, I do think that getting Game of Thrones into places like comic book stores or video game shelves (and web sites/outlets related to those physical locations) has a different sort of value.

But only time will tell in terms of how successful that strategy will be (and, as I was discussing on Twitter, how HBO could be able to measure its success).

From a professional perspective, adult genre licensing can be profitable as incremental income. But it’s never going to drive enough revenue to justify a season renewal, or if it did it would be a minor miracle. Success in licensing is fickle, and you can have unlikely brands come out of nowhere to the sound of cash registers ca-chinging. But the average TV show can only really pay for itself via licensing through toys-hat’s why so much of the licensing world is focused on preschool-scale of toy sales. And GoT is not an average TV show. It is hellishly expensive. A licensing program would have to be a knocked out of the ballpark success to even be more than a drop in the bucket of that kind of funding. Realistically DVD sales are probably the only traditional ancillaries area where sizeable money will be made.

I do think less traditional areas bear a lot of potential though, and I look forward to seeing what HBO do with those rights. Certain digital areas, virtual worlds, MMOGs… That’s definitely interesting.

And one final point – I thing what fans of the books want most is new content. Good merch can work, especially of the quality you describe above, which embraces the world and has a sense of humor. But I think additional content (from GRRM probably), in whatever media, would be the biggest draw. Problem is, aside from rights issues, fans and HBO alike want Martin working on the next book, not some licensed product.

Anyway that’s my 2 cents!