With season six of the critically acclaimed series “Game of Thrones” returning in just a few short weeks, HBO has been popping up in the news, recently. As one of the original providers of premium cable content, HBO has responded remarkably well to the changing media environment that now includes streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. This could be due to HBO’s quickly developed streaming service of their own, HBO Go, but I believe the main component in HBO’s continued success is the quality of their programming.
Though the network obviously has television classics like “Sex and The City” and “The Sopranos” in its back pocket, much of HBO’s current content maintains the level of excellence set forth by those earlier shows. “Game of Thrones” is obviously a major standout, attracting millions of viewers (and the honor of being one of the most pirated television shows to date) as well as earning widespread critical acclaim and numerous Emmy Awards. Alongside the success of “Game of Thrones” are comedies like “Girls,” which still keeps a substantial and devoted viewership, and more recently John Oliver’s surprise smash, “Last Week Tonight,” whose viral clips explaining complex issues like abortion and special districts go viral almost every week. In the past few weeks, HBO released their latest dramatic effort, “Vinyl,” which dives headfirst into the insanity and magic of the New York City rock music scene during the turbulent 1970s; after three episodes it was picked up for a second season.
By maintaining a strict status quo of excellent programming, HBO has managed to come out on top in terms of content popularity following the streaming boom. I believe the next hurdle for HBO is to democratize their brand and to become as commonplace in American homes as their increasingly competitive rival Netflix. If HBO can, somehow, manage to balance their extremely good productions with a price that could tempt the average consumer- there’s no telling what the network could accomplish.