HBO Max, through its parent WarnerMedia, has finally released its own AVOD streaming service, launching last week with the bold promise to be the AVOD service with the “lowest commercial ad load in the streaming industry.” With AVOD models now hitting streaming services left and right, BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Attorney takes a look at what makes this one stand out from the herd.
Brandon Blake- Entertainment Lawyer
Not that the new service is completely free, mind. Subscribers will see a $5 drop from the ad-free $15 to AVOD $10. There is a nice promise, however- that ads will be capped at 4 minutes per hour of viewing. It’s also been promised that HBO programming will be ad-free. This sweetener is nice, but not all that new- both NBC Universal’s Peacock and Discovery + work out at the same range.
It’s abundantly clear that the new tier is hoped to attract extra subscriptions in what is fast becoming a saturated market. There’s only so many pure subscriptions a household is willing to front. AVOD, through the price-reduction offered by its advertising supporters, hopes to entice viewers to part with just a little more hard-earned cash in order to receive a new channel with only minimal interruption from ads.
In the case of WarnerMedia, however, we do see them offer equal access to their day-and-date film releases. While only ad-free premium subscribers can access the films on the day of release, ad-supported subscribers will get them shortly after.
HBO and HBO max were sitting around 44.2 million subscribers at the end of March this year, and had adjusted future predictions to 120M-150M by 2025. At only a year old, it’s currently ahead of its launch-day predictions, too. It’s in the process of rolling out outside the U.S as well. Not bad for a service that was off to a very rocky start in early launch, beset by legacy branding and distribution issues alongside internal upheaval.
How will it fare from here? Only time will tell, but BLAKE & WANG P.A entertainment lawyer will be watching.
