The stats behind massive Avengers and Game of Thrones hype in Hong Kong

With the highly anticipated release of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame and the final season of popular TV series Game of Thrones, and with both premieres so close together, fans’ interest in both franchises naturally approached a fever pitch as each respective premiere date drew nearer, and this was reflected in online marketplace Carousell’s search data.From January to April 2019, the total number of searches for Marvel increased by 338%, and the total number of searches for Game of Thrones increased by a staggering 850%. Both franchises reached almost 55,000 searches on Carousell for Marvel and Game of Thrones-related listings.Both are cultural behemoths, with stories that span across years and an overwhelmingly large and intricately linked web of characters. Zooming into the first two weeks of April, where the excitement really took off, revealed how truly popular each franchise is among Hongkongers.Marvel-related searches in Hong Kong completely dominated Game of Thrones-related searches, with more than 50,000 searches, outnumbering them by over 20 times. Marvel-related searches also accounted for almost 0.3% of all searches made on Carousell in the past four weeks.The most searched character of all time in the Marvel Universe is none other than the charismatic billionaire Iron Man, with more than 500,000 searches to his name in the region.The original Avengers line-up – Hulk, Thor and Captain America – join Iron Man as the top searched characters on Carousell. Meanwhile, Thanos saw almost 100,000 searches, placing him just behind Spider-Man.In Game of Thrones, series protagonist Jon Snow is the most searched for character with more than 1,800 searches. Surprisingly, the Night King is a close second with just over 1,600 searches. A clear case of life imitating art, as Snow and the Night King head for an epic showdown in the final season.In our Hong Kong marketplace, a limited edition Game of Thrones single malt scotch whisky was the most valuable Game of Thrones-themed item and sold for more than US$990.Meanwhile, the Singapore marketplace recorded a Marvel-themed transaction of more than US$4,000 for a limited edition Avengers-themed pinball machine.