The audience in the UK this week was surprised to see some nudity during the weekly airing of Game of Thrones because this nudity wasn't the usual; it was Hostelworld's first television advert. See for yourself: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0xbODE6VLc\[/embed\] Hostelworld is increasingly upping its game to protect its turf against the impending giants. It has only been a little more than a week since they launched their website and logo overhaul, so they are stepping up big time. Hostelworld has been in a tight spot lately, and this is the first major move in offering some much-needed resistance to hold on to its users. Booking.com has been steadily encroaching on its space for years now. Booking.com has always included all forms of accommodation. That is how they gained such a strong foothold in Europe, but Hostelworld was not worried. Hostelworld had a strong grip on the hostel market, made even stronger when it purchased Hostelbookers in 2011. However, Booking.com has still increased its hostels at a steady pace. Currently, Booking.com has over 12,000 hostels compared to Hostelworld's 30,000. So, the competition is getting fierce. Hostelworld's growth has plateaued, whereas Booking's is still on the rise. Of course, there are new markets, but new hostel owners are quite savvy, signing up for all the popular channels, including both Hostelworld and Booking.com. So, the true battle is for Hostelworld to retain its users more than anything. And a battle it is. If you look at capital, they are extremely outnumbered. Booking.com, a Priceline company, is worth billions in USD. In fact, they spend over $3 billion on digital ad campaigns alone (across all forms of accommodation). Expedia is also entering the space and spends billions on advertising as well. In fact, Booking.com has released an all-encompassing accommodation advertising campaign on television for about a year now. Perhaps these will remind you: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4M-FhM49SU\[/embed\] [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG6Lt7_8uEw\[/embed\] [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-OXqGVDfKA\[/embed\] So, as you can see, Booking.com likes to mention hostels in its ads. They understand that a user can grow in age and in wealth, and therefore expect a different product along the way. Ever since these ads came out, Booking.com has been the only television advertiser for hostels. That is what Hostelworld is changing, taking a raunchier approach that they hope users will like. Television advertising and accommodation go hand in hand. Expedia, which is new to the hostel space, runs ads in the US all the time under its various brands (Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc.). TripAdvisor is very strategic with its ads, where you can mostly find them on the Travel Channel, and Trivago is super aggressive; you can find them everywhere now that Expedia backs them. So much so that people are starting to hate them, especially that weird guy who Germans think we like, but we do not know. If only they had chosen David Hasselhoff instead. In these times, expect to see these ads rise, and it's great to see Hostelworld get in the game. However, they will need to make a new ad if they want to break into the US market.