HBO Max Subscriptions Soar Thanks to 'Wonder Woman: 1984' (and Roku!)
HBO Max hits 41 million subscribers, a full two years faster than its initial forecast.
Only a few weeks ago, HBO Max was languishing at the bottom of the subscriber barrel. In order to bolster their subpar numbers, the company made a deal with Roku, enabling the app to be within a massive amount of households. They then debuted the hot title Wonder Woman: 1984 on Christmas Day within the app, building a new subscriber base and helping vault them into relevancy.
"The release of Wonder Woman 1984 helped drive our domestic HBO Max and HBO subscribers to more than 41 million, a full two years faster than our initial forecast," said AT&T CEO John Stankey in a statement.
I've been critical of HBO Max, which debuted without buzzy titles early last year. Since then, they've been able to capitalize on The Undoing, Flight Attendant, and WW84 to help people to stay with the app and lure in newcomers. I don't think enough can be said about the deal with Roku, which immediately gave them access to something like 70% of all households, which had not been available to them until late 2020.
Warner's new hybrid release strategy for 2021, debuting movies on the app and in theaters, was attacked by filmmakers and angered many, but the early numbers show this strategy paying off big time with audiences. While Warners has said that that was a "2021 only" venture, I think you can imagine them wanting to make sure they have at least one new movie a month debuting on the app, and that this idea will be built into future feature contracts.
The company has said it hopes to reach 50 million to 55 million HBO Max customers in the U.S. by 2025, but I bet these new numbers are adjusted as they make their way through 2021, especially with blockbuster releases like Godzilla vs. Kong coming soon.
With competition soaring to the hundreds of millions of subscribers, I wonder if HBO Max has other plans to get ahead. We've talked about the possibility of a Harry Potter TV show, which would surely bring a global audience with it. We don't know if they have other tricks up their sleeve.
Are you an HBO Max subscriber? What drew you in? Will you stick with the service?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
