Game of Thrones is finished for now at HBO, and it appears that with its death came the death of a chunk of people's subscriptions. The days after the finale didn't just bring a bunch of hot takes to the internet, but also a spike in Google searches from those looking to cancel their HBO subscriptions. According to Google Trends, the amount of searches for "cancel HBO" skyrocketed after the finale, and resulted in the highest spike in show history.
The search score for "cancel HBO" capped out on Google Trends on Monday, May 20, with a score of 100. Comparatively, if one looks at how many people searched that term throughout the history of the series, the next highest surge was after the Season 7 finale, which had a score of 47. That's a huge spike between seasons, which may indicate a lot of people were simply holding onto their HBO subscriptions for Game of Thrones.
HBO President Casey Bloys told Deadline that dips in subscribers following the end of big shows on the platform is normal. That being said, such a steep drop off could result in some at HBO suggesting the network push through development on the planned Game of Thrones prequel in order to get some of those subscribers back. Shortly after the finale, Bloys maintained HBO's stance was to let the finale sit for a while before offering something new to fans.
Shooting a pilot in June and having it on the air a year later feels a little rushed, but it’s too soon to tell...I wanted to get through the final season and let that stand as a cultural moment.
Now, it's also entirely possible HBO will gain some of its subscribers back when its heavy hitters return, as the only acclaimed HBO series set to return in the near future is Big Little Lies. There's also the much-anticipated Watchmen series that's expected sometime in 2019 which could pull in some superhero show lovers. Obviously, HBO may have retained more viewers had it hooked them on another series during Game of Thrones, but there are no guarantees.
The surge in people searching how to cancel HBO on Google makes the divisive finale all the more interesting, as time will tell if the polarizing season will negatively impact consumers' interest in future Game of Thrones-related television. If it does, there's a good chance HBO won't be falling over themselves to green light those other in-development prequel ideas. Are these Google searchers gone for good after GoT, or will they be back when the next show arrives?
Every Game Of Thrones Season, Ranked Now That It's All Over
We're still possibly quite a ways away from finding out the answer to that, so be sure to stick with CinemaBlend for updates on Game of Thrones' prequel, as well as the latest on popular movies and television.
