How to Implement the Changes in Hbo Itself

HBO

Institutional affiliation

Student’s name

Implementation

How to implement the changes in HBO itself

With more and more consumers inclining towards streaming facilities such as Netflix, HBO Now, and Hulu in place of bundled cable packages, sporting events have gradually earned the repute as one of the very last remainders of the out-of-date live TV model. While TV viewership as a whole has bent toward the fancies and schedules of the individual customer, live viewing is emerging to be the go-to method of viewing sports for fans that wish to experience all the action as it occurs in real-time.

As such, given the current seismic shift in viewing attitudes, where most consumers have grown a preference for streaming services, Joseph (2016) observes that event organizers are currently adapting the way they approach big sporting events. One way HBO could capitalize on this development is to team up with well-known broadcasters seeking streaming services and amalgamating their efforts with the objective of delivering these events to the market via OTT (Burroughs & Rugg, 2014). For example, with Periscope and Meerkat emerging as bigger contenders with their blockbuster apps that offer exclusive up to date score and information, HBO could enter into partnerships with such companies, offer sports streaming services on their behalf, and later share the profits. With eyes locked onto one platform, HBO will be able to blend both the active and passive actions of sports viewership into a single space, as well as providing advertisers the increasingly tempting prospect of smarter, more targeted advertising on both its cable channel and HBO Now platform (Guichard, 2015). Hence, HBO can easily monetize its efforts while moving with an ever-changing audience.

How to market to the consumer

A better way to introduce sports streaming services on HBO Now would include aligning it with the series premiere of the company’s most watched program, Game of Thrones. Indeed, just as the company did during the fifth season premiere of the TV show where it boldly advertised for its HBO Now product, the company proved that strategic planning is the most important aspect of marketing. Most of the show’s premiere (Game of Thrones) garners an average of up to eight million viewers on the day of its release, a promising opportunity if marketing is done the right way (Wetzel, 2016). The company could have commercial breaks between the programs in which adverts of the sports streaming services will be aired and early adopters given subscription discounts.