Warner Bros. Discovery has made the decision that had been an open secret for months: to end HBO Max with the aim of removing the scepter of power from the platforms to Netflix. He knows that it will not be easy, that the saturation of content, even of platforms, is starting to be a real problem, but he had to do something if he wanted to recover the glory of his early years.
For now, the decision is to end HBO. Yes, there will be no HBO Max anymore, just Max. Second and the key to everything: the merger of HBO and Discovery, becoming a gigantic platform that can compete without limitations in a market dominated by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney.
“This new brand marks a major shift from two more limited products, HBO Max and Discovery, to a broader consumer proposition and content offering,” JB Perrette, president and CEO of Global Streaming, said Wednesday.
For now, Europe will have to wait. The new platform will arrive first in the US on May 23 and in the old continent in 2024. “Max is the home of the HBO originals, the Warner Bros. movies, the Max originals, the DC universe, the Magical World of Harry Potter, a wide range of content for children and the best programming,” adds the platform’s statement.
Existing HBO Max subscribers will have access to Max at the same price as their HBO Max subscription. Additionally, HBO Max subscribers will continue to have access to features in their current plan for a minimum of six months after launch. HBO Max subscribers’ profiles, settings, viewing history, “Continue Watching” and “My List” items will also be migrated to Max so they can pick up right where they left off.
“We are confident that all of these enhancements will deliver a stronger experience for our customers, which will drive higher engagement, help improve retention, and improve customer satisfaction, which in turn will help us continue to scale,” Perrette insisted. in the presentation
For those who subscribe to the new platform, Warner will offer three pricing options:
In addition, each plan will have its own content. In other words, the Max Ultimate Ad Free plan will be the most complete, since all the Warner movies released this year will be added to the usual content such as The Last of Us or Game of Thrones.
“The Max service is a mosaic of powerful content that will be unmatched in the breadth, reach and excellence of its offerings,” said Casey Bloys, president and CEO of HBO and Max Content, in the presentation of the new platform.
The service will feature a regular update of content with an average of more than 40 new titles and seasons each month. Audiences will be able to explore the iconic worlds of HBO, the DC Universe and Harry Potter, as well as hit movies.
But a new platform, no matter how much it comes from the symbiosis of another and a large producer, has to bring with it the candy that attracts future customers and keeps the ones they already have. For this reason, Max will be born with several loaves under his arm, from an original Harry Potter series, a faithful adaptation of the beloved original book series by J.K. Rowling, who will serve as executive producer; going through a comedy series spinoff of The Big Bang Theory; an HBO original prequel to Game of Thrones titled The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Wandering Knight; to a dramatic series based on the Warren File movies.
But these are not the only titles announced for Max, since it will also offer the series The Penguin, a Batman spin-off starring Colin Farrell, which already has the first trailer, or the original HBO miniseries True Detective: Night Country , starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis.
The objective is no other, as the company’s top executive, David Zaslav, pointed out that “maintaining subscribers is as important as adding subscribers.”
And it is that according to its latest results, Warner Bros. Discovery occupies fourth place in the ranking of large platforms with some 96 million subscribers globally at the end of 2022, compared to the leaders that are Netflix (231 million), Amazon Prime Video (200 million in 2021) and Disney (162 million).
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
