WarnerMedia owner AT&T has released updated subscriber numbers for its premium cable channel, HBO, and its streaming service, HBO Max, and the two platforms appear to be in poor health.
As a part of the company's recent regulatory filing, AT&T found that its HBO portfolio exceeded the year-end goal of seventy-three with eight million subscribers combined by December of two thousand twenty-one.
Given that WarnerMedia decided to remove HBO (the channel, not the broadcaster) from Amazon's selection of Prime Video Channels early last year, in an effort to attract more HBO Max subscribers, these numbers represent a promising development.
But HBO bosses aren't expected to blow up the revelers just yet. To start, AT&T numbers don't distinguish between HBO and HBO Max, making it difficult to determine which service has captured the majority of their combined audience.
A WarnerMedia spokesperson recently told The Verge that these commendations are going to be "exploited." in a few weeks,” but now it's pretty hard to make too many bold claims about the success of HBO Max, particularly.
However, assuming that HBO Max had a great XNUMX, as we hope future data will reveal, it is worth recalling that the pandemic has undoubtedly played a role in attracting new subscribers to the streamer.
Warner's day-and-date release schedule meant that recent blockbusters like The Suicide Squad, The Matrix Resurrections, and Denis Villeneuve's Dune were all free to watch on HBO Max on the exact same day (or the day after) their releases. respective theatrical releases, making certain services a warmer property than it might have been in XNUMX.
Given that theaters will likely continue to open en masse in 2022 (although the Omicron variance continues to cast doubt on any permanent return to normalcy), Warner will not pursue any day and date calendar genres in the future.
Upcoming films like The Batman will remain free to air on HBO Max, but only after an exclusive XNUMX-day theatrical release.
This means that the service is unlikely to have a similar injection of subscribers this year, while HBO Max is not going to offer exactly the same immediate access to the larger versions.
TV shows are, of course, another story, but many of HBO's biggest hits in recent months (like Friends: The Reunion and Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts) also represent unique singles. So it's going to be up to future seasons of Succession and brand-new shows like House of the Dragon and The Last of Us to do the heavy lifting for HBO Max throughout the next year.
Always second (or third) violin
Furthermore, the development of HBO seems less incredible compared to the equivalent amounts published by Disney Plus and Netflix in two thousand twenty-one.
The first, which was launched more or less 6 months before HBO Max, had one hundred and eighteen with one million paying subscribers as of October of last year, compared to seventy-three with seven million of two thousand and twenty.
Netflix, on the other hand, reported two hundred and fourteen million paying subscribers in the third quarter of 2021; that number is expected to rise even further in the fourth quarter thanks to the great success of Squid Game.
Obviously, HBO Max has a job to do in 2022. The platform's launch across Europe should help strengthen its subscriber base, but with even more competition in the form of Paramount Plus (a Halo TV show, anyone? ) and Pluto TV, the HBO broadcaster will have to work hard to persuade potential service customers to part with even more of their hard-earned money.
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