After a tough day, there’s nothing like winding down with your favorite show in the evening. There’s something comforting about it.
We relax and don’t think about problems for a while. We can laugh, cry, get scared and intrigued, or even be inspired.
There are also shows from which we can learn. Watching TV or streaming something doesn’t necessarily have to be only about fun; we could stream very useful documentaries.
HBO Max is a very popular streaming platform. According to data from Flix Patrol, it is the fourth most-subscribed platform in the world behind Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+.
A thread on Reddit from nine months ago discusses what subscribers love the most about HBO Max, and why they prefer it over other streaming platforms. The majority of comments were positive.
HBO Max subscribers and praised the service for:
- High-quality/prestige content
- Rich library of older and favorite shows/movies
- Exclusive content
- Good variety of content (prestige dramas, comedies, genre content, older stuff and new releases)
- Good value
Some subscribers also highlighted HBO Max’s weaknesses, complaining about streaming quality (buffering, lag) on certain devices, too much “reality” content, and missing old exclusive content that has been removed.
The company behind it seems to be pleased with its quality offering, which is why it has announced it might soon raise its prices.
Image source: Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO says HBO Max will be more expensive
Warner Bros. Discovery WBD CEO David Zaslav recently spoke at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. At the event, Zaslav highlighted HBO Max’s growing popularity.
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“People are really starting to love HBO Max. That’s the key. We want them to fall in love with our content, with our series, with the differentiated offering outside the U.S.,” he said, according to the conference transcript from Seeking Alpha.
The CEO further discussed the big talent the network gathered at Warner, such as Chuck Lorre, Bill Lawrence, and Mindy Kaling, and said that they provide a “real optional leverage going forward.”
The company can now choose if it wants to keep the next big show on HBO or sell it to other platforms.
Zaslav highlighted the quality of the company’s motion picture and TV production, which is giving them a chance to raise prices.
“We think we’re way underpriced. We’re going to take our time, because we’re really growing now and people are spending more and more time with us. But we think that there’s real upside to that. And it’s hard to replace quality content that people love.”
HBO Max will reach over 150 million homes next year
Here are the HBO Max plans and prices:
- Basic with Ads – $9.99/month or $99.99/year (16% savings)
- Standard – $16.99/month or $169.99/year (16% savings)
- Premium – $20.99/month or $209.99/year (16% savings)
According to the company’s official website, prices don’t include applicable taxes.
Last time Warner Bros. Discovery raised prices on its streaming service was in June 2024.
Zaslav projects continues growth for the platform.
“If you take away sports, 50% of the viewing on Sky is HBO content. So within those markets, people are waiting for ‘Euphoria’ to come back. They want to see the next season of ‘Gilded Age.’ They want to see the next season of ‘Last of Us.’ They’ve loved watching our content, and it’s been branded at the end as HBO. So we’re nonexclusive in all three of those markets. We’ll be in over 150 million homes next year,” he said.
HBO max cracks down on password sharing
Zaslav also used the opportunity to talk about password sharing, and said that the company plans to push back.
During the August earnings call, Warner Bros Discovery CEO for Global Streaming and Games Jean-Briac Perrette talked about the account sharing problem.
He revealed how the company has started to work on resolving the issue, with plans to enforce rules more aggressively.
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“The reality is we’ve done — we spent a lot of the last several months making sure that our data sets on figuring out who is a legitimate user and who may not be legitimate user and making sure that we test it sufficiently so that when we turn on the more aggressive languaging around what needs to happen that we were actually putting the net in the right place, so to speak. And we feel great about where we are,“ he said, according to a transcript provided by Insider Monkey.
Password sharing is a problem for most of the biggest streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
A Citi analyst projected in 2022 that streaming services lose around $25 billion a year due to password sharing, with Netflix representing 25% of that amount, according to a report by the LA Times.
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