Leading into its fourth season, HBO wanted to take Game of Thrones from popular television show to global sensation and reinforce the show's position as a must-watch TV event.
At the show's Season 4 premiere in NYC on 3/18/2014, Facebook produced a custom Facebook Live event, which streamed video live to the world, from an outdoor stage overlooking the Lincoln Center plaza. HBO re-themed the Lincoln Center Plaza, creating a rich visual environment complete with a two story-tall brass dragon, as well as a front-row red carpet experience for 50 Instagram influencers and Game of Thrones super-fans. Prior to the premiere, HBO also hosted an "InstaWalk" — a photographic tour — with these Instragram influencers and fans around the venue.
The premiere was accompanied by a global live-stream of the red carpet with several interactive social components for fans. Mike McMillian from True Blood, conducted a series of red carpet interviews with cast members — including Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, and author George R.R. Martin — during which he asked questions submitted via Facebook comments and Instagram videos. This live-stream also included the premiere of a Season 4 trailer.
The result was over 580M media impressions were generated in over 40 outlets through press about the event, and the exclusive video trailer had over 18M views on Facebook. Moreover, this program generated trans-media content that spanned across the social, digital video and broadcast platforms, and helps bring the world of a tremendous show like Game of Thrones closer to fans.