HBO's Game of Thrones has become one of the most in-demand and sought-after shows by viewers in the modern TV-era according to latest market research, as Johnnie Walker is ready to launch its limited edition "White Walker" whiskey inspired by the show in South Africa and across Africa, and the show dropping not just one but another two new trailers.
The demand under audiences for the upcoming 8th and final season of Game of Thrones set to debut on 15 April on M-Net (DStv 101) at 22:00 is at a record-high according to the American data science company, Parrot Analytics, that measures and predicts the global demand for content.
"Demand" is calculated as the desire and want for content and is a calculation of actual viewership including downloads and streaming, engagement and mentions on social media, as well as people actively seeking out information about, reading about TV shows and writing about it.
According to Parrot Analytics, Game of Thrones has risen to be 159 times more in demand by viewers in the United States than the average TV show.
That has propelled Game of Thrones into what Parrot calls the "exceptional" demand category - something that only a minuscule 0.01% of TV series are able to reach.
Even within this category, Game of Thrones totally dwarves other high-in-demand shows like The Walking Dead seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine seen on 1Magic (DStv 103) neither of which come close to viewers' thirst for the fantasy drama series.
Meanwhile, Diageo is cashing in on the thirst for Game of Thrones with the Johnnie Walker whiskey brand that is bringing its recently-launched, limited edition "White Walker"-themed bottles to Africa and South Africa, inspired by the enigmatic, feared and zombie-like antagonist that will be attacking Westeros this season.
Launched recently it wasn't certain whether the bottle in tribute to the seven kingdoms with an "icy message from beyond the wall when frozen" would come to South Africa and Africa, but on Friday last week Johnnie Walker had a launch event in Lagos, Nigeria to make it available in West Africa.
In conjunction with MultiChoice Africa at a winter-themed icy event, a live orchestra played the theme song of the HBO fantasy series as guests sipped on White Walker created by whisky specialist George Harper.
TVwithThinus has learnt that Diageo will also be launching the White Walker edition of its Scotch whiskey in South Africa on 10 April, making it available in Southern Africa as well.
No word yet on whether White Walker will be served at 03:00 in the morning when M-Net does a special cosplay celebration cinema screening at Nu Metro in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town on the morning of 15 April where fans and the media will watch the 8th season premiere episode together at the same time as it's shown in America.
Two new trailers
HBO released a further two new trailers for Game of Thrones on Tuesday with the one entitled "Together" and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) saying about the invading, supernatural army from beyond the wall: "We must fight now together - or die". The trailer is filled with flying dragon action.
In the second trailer entitled "Survival", a reflective Jon Snow solemnly says "Think back to where we started. Now it's just us". Then Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), the King Slayer of Casterly Rock, says "This goes beyond loyalty. This is about survival."
Besides the 03:00 simulcast broadcast of Game of Thrones that M-Net (DStv 101) will do at the same time as episodes are shown in the United States, M-Net will reshow Game of Thrones on Mondays at 22:00.
After its linear broadcast on M-Net episodes of the 8th season will become available on MultiChoice's subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD) Showmax, as well as on its DStv Now Catch Up service for DStv subscribers. Showmax also carries a library carousel of the previous 7 seasons' episodes.
The last episode of Game of Thrones' final 8th season will be broadcast on 20 May with the first part of a 2-part documentary "making of" film, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, that will start on M-Net on 27 May in the same timeslot, going behind-the-scenes of how the final season was produced.
