Woman in green gown and crowned woman in dark armor face each other before a throne of swords with dragon emblems
Submitted by RQ

House of the Dragon Season 2: #TeamBlack or #TeamGreen

RQ built a three-phase influencer program with 105 partners for HBO's House of the Dragon Season 2, producing content that earned an estimated social media value of $35.3M.

25Maverage viewers per episode
1,500creator content pieces
9.1Mengagements
$35.3Mestimated social media value

Case in 60 seconds

House of the Dragon Season 2 had to return as the most talked-about show of the year, which meant rebuilding attention for a series audiences had last watched two seasons apart and re-establishing its central conflict.

The campaign appears to turn on the idea that a civil war narrative gives audiences something to argue about rather than merely watch, because declaring a side is a shareable act that fans perform in public on their own accounts.

RQ staged the season's rivalry as a public debate between #TeamBlack and #TeamGreen, treating creator partners as bannermen who recruited their own audiences into declaring an allegiance.

RQ partnered with 105 influential voices across three phases and six campaign beats over four months, running Dueling Trailers to spark debate and Dueling Correspondents covering the red carpet premiere live, while widening to paid and organic creators in Food, Comedy, Beauty, Fashion, DIY and LGBTQIA+ communities.

RQ reports over 1,500 pieces of creator content earning over 120M social impressions, 119M views, 9.1M engagements and an estimated social media value of $35.3M, with the June 16, 2024 premiere the biggest streaming day in the history of Max and the season averaging 25M viewers per episode.

Strategy Breakdown

Existing House of the Dragon fans whose passion for the Targaryen drama needed reigniting, alongside newcomers reached through creators in Food, Comedy, Beauty, Fashion, DIY and LGBTQIA+ subcommunities.
A returning prestige series competes with everything else released in the interval, and RQ's answer was to give the season a question audiences could take sides on rather than an announcement they could scroll past.
Streaming premieres concentrate demand into a single day, so the campaign had to build four months of accumulating conversation that converged on June 16, 2024 rather than spend attention early.
House of the Dragon supplied the divided-house conflict itself, which RQ simplified into two named sides so that the show's own story became the participation device.
Based on the available evidence, the program assumes people share allegiances more readily than recommendations, because a stated side invites a reply from anyone who chose differently and a recommendation does not.

Creative & Execution System

Partners

  • RQ

Participation mechanic

  • Audiences declared an allegiance by choosing between #TeamBlack and #TeamGreen and raising their banners on social media, joining the debate creators started rather than only watching it.

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Average Viewers per Episodethe season would go on to average 25M viewers per episode
Creator Content Piecesour efforts produced over 1,500 pieces of creator content
Engagements9.1M engagements
Estimated Social Media Valuean incredible estimated social media value of $35.3M
Influencer Partnerswe partnered with 105 influential voices
Social Impressionscollectively earned over 120M social impressions
Streaming Day Rank on Maxthe season 2 premiere on June 16, 2024, became the biggest streaming day in the history of Max
Views119M views

Why RQ's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A binary allegiance prompt gives creators a repeatable format they can each answer in their own register, which is why the same #TeamBlack and #TeamGreen question carried across six beats without needing new creative each time.

  2. 2

    Sequencing matters when a franchise returns after a gap, because reminding audiences of what they loved before introducing the new conflict means the rivalry lands with people who are already re-invested rather than cold.

  3. 3

    Recruiting creators outside the entertainment vertical, in Food, Comedy, Beauty, Fashion, DIY and LGBTQIA+ communities, moves a show out of its own fandom and into subcommunities where it is the unexpected subject rather than the expected one.

  4. 4

    Casting partners who were already fans of the series lets the allegiance read as a genuine position rather than a paid one, which is what makes a debate mechanic work at all since a bought opinion cannot be argued with.

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