{"id":13784,"date":"2021-02-09T14:14:06","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T19:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player\/"},"modified":"2021-02-09T14:14:06","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T19:14:06","slug":"hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player\/","title":{"rendered":"HBO Max: From Underdog to Power Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

The success of Netflix has motivated almost every major player in media to launch their own streaming service. From content juggernauts like Disney, to traditional cable networks like CBS, company after company has decided to commit the massive investments required for the opportunity to fight in \u201cStreaming Wars.\u201d The front runners in this fight seemed obvious: Netflix with almost 200M subscribers and tens of billions to spend on content [1]; Disney reaching ~80M subscribers within a year [2]; Apple spending $6B to develop its first line up of original programming [3]. Then, a global pandemic hit.<\/p>\n

HBO Max, with a slow and steady growth in users and with a few billion dollar investment (small by comparison to other streamers), went from an also-ran to a game-changer. In December 2020, Warner Brothers announced that all of its 2021 blockbusters would be released on HBO Max at the same time they reached theaters. The announcement of this deal was a shake-up to the industry in many ways: 1) theaters already struggling with long term closures during a pandemic now faced a direct threat to their value proposition as blockbuster distributors, 2) the fight for streaming wars expanded in scope beyond just original content and bingeable TV to include new frontiers where those like Netflix and Apple didn\u2019t have a natural advantage, and 3) HBO Max\u2019s parent company signaled a more integrated approach to how it would manage its newly acquired Warner Brothers business.<\/p>\n

This announcement has had immediate positive effect on HBO Max, despite criticism from industry creatives and theater groups. With just one blockbuster release in December in Wonder Woman 1984<\/em>, HBO Max more than doubled its subscriber base [4]. When many new major movie releases like Tenet<\/em> have seen tepid theater results and others like Black Widow<\/em> have seen delay after delay, HBO Max was able to turn a challenge into an opportunity and give its parent company some way to capitalize on the investment made in a blockbuster like WW84, <\/em>despite somewhat middling reviews.<\/p>\n

HBO Max was not the only streamer with the necessary connections to major studios to stream blockbuster releases; most obviously, Disney seemed poised to re-invent the theatrical release with its live-action version of Mulan<\/em>. However, Disney was not willing to commit to streaming in the same way and instead charged a $30 fee for any account to access this single new title, rankling many fans and users in the process. While HBO Max has a higher membership price point than many streamers at $15\/month, this membership now comes with thousands of hours of historical content and new theatrical releases.<\/p>\n

Capturing theatrical releases alone is not enough to captivate an audience in streaming, even in a pandemic when viewers are starved for quarantine content. Luckily, the closer relationship with Warner Brothers also gives HBO Max another strong advantage in a pandemic world: depth of content. Despite being one of the newer kids on the block, HBO Max gives subscribers more hours of content to pass their time while in quarantine than Disney or Apple with the Warner Brothers library (see figure below).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Variety.com [5]<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, HBO Max has made the right investments to position itself for success post-pandemic. Before the pandemic, HBO Max\u2019s ability to realistically reap a return on major content acquisitions, like $425M spent on Friends<\/em> [6], seemed daunting with a relatively small subscriber base. Now that theatrical releases are serving as an innovative customer acquisition strategy that would not have been available in a pre-pandemic world, HBO Max can instead rely on more classically \u201cbingeable\u201d content like Friends<\/em>, South Park<\/em>, and Doctor Who<\/em> to serve as more of a retention tool to keep customers paying their monthly fees after signing on to see the movies they no longer feel comfortable watching in theaters. HBO Max\u2019s ability to maintain success over time will play out over time, but it certainly appears to be putting together the pieces needed to retain and grow its customer base [7].<\/p>\n

Plenty of digital companies have done \u201cbetter\u201d financially or publicly than what HBO Max has achieved during the pandemic, but few have adapted their strategy so nimbly and in ways that so cleverly play to their unique advantages relative to their competitors. For that reason, I name HBO Max the streaming \u201cwinner\u201d of the 2020 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

[1] Lee, Edmund. \u201cEveryone You Know Just Signed Up for Netflix.\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, 21 Apr. 2020, https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/21\/business\/media\/netflix-q1-2020-earnings-nflx.html#:~:text=Netflix%20has%20182.8%20million%20subscribers,the%20world’s%20largest%20entertainment%20services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2] Bursztynsky, Jessica. \u201cDisney+ Emerges as an Early Winner of Streaming Wars, Expects up to 260 Million Subscribers by 2024.\u201d CNBC<\/em>, 11 Dec. 2020, https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/12\/11\/after-showing-massive-growth-disney-hikes-5-year-subscriber-goal-.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[3] Alexander, Julia. \u201cApple TV Plus Can Afford to Gamble $6 Billion in a Way That Disney and Hulu Can\u2019t.\u201d The Verge<\/em>, 20 Aug. 2019, https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/8\/20\/20813761\/apple-tv-plus-budget-money-disney-netflix-hulu-warnermedia-hbo-amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[4] Jarvey, Natalie. \u201cThe High Cost of Chasing Netflix for NBCU and WarnerMedia.\u201d The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, 3 Feb. 2021, https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/the-high-cost-of-chasing-netflix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[5] Littleton, Cynthia. \u201cInside HBO Max, the $4 Billion Bet to Stand Out in the Streaming Wars.\u201d Variety<\/em>, 14 May 2020, https:\/\/variety.com\/2020\/tv\/features\/hbo-max-launch-streaming-friends-warnermedia-1234604475\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[6] Young, Julius. \u201cThe $425 Million HBO Max Spent on \u2018Friends\u2019 is Working Out.\u201d Fox Business<\/em>, 29 July 2020. https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/425-million-hbo-max-spent-friends-working<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[7] Baysinger, Tim. \u201cWarnerMedia Realigns Content Acquisition Teams into Two Groups.\u201d The Wrap<\/em>, 21 Feb 2020. https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/warnermedia-realigns-content-acquisition-teams-into-two-groups\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How HBO Max used its connections to Warner Brothers to change streaming during the pandemic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-13784","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/digital-winners-during-the-pandemic\/","yoast_head":"\nHBO Max: From Underdog to Power Player - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HBO Max: From Underdog to Power Player - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How HBO Max used its connections to Warner Brothers to change streaming during the pandemic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/Blog-1_Figure-1.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-digit\\\/submission\\\/hbo-max-from-underdog-to-power-player\\\/\",\"name\":\"HBO Max: From Underdog to Power Player - 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