HBO Max continues to grow
AT&T announced total global HBO Max and HBO subscribers ended the fourth quarter at 73.8 million, up 13.1 million vs. YAG. The service now has 46.8 million domestic subscribers after adding 5.3 million in 2021. The company said it’s still on track to close its $43 billion deal to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery in the second quarter of 2022. It also expects ad-supported HBO Max to take over a higher percentage of the domestic subscriber mix this year due in part to the end of Warner Bros. same-day streaming releases, which were the primary difference between the ad-free and ad-supported products.
The NPD Take:
- With Netflix’s recent price hike for their most popular plan to $15.50/month, HBO Max now becomes a less expensive option which could help increase subscriber growth.
- HBO Max could also strengthen its position with a focus on more original content.
Comcast subscriber declines and increased Peacock spend
Comcast reported losing nearly 1.5 million residential video subscribers during 2021 while its ad-supported streaming service Peacock has reached 24.5 million monthly active accounts in the U.S., of which 9 million are paid subscribers. This represents about 75% of the number the company expected to have by 2024. Comcast also said that while Peacock lost $1.7 billion in 2021 and is expected to lose $2.5 billion in 2022, the company will double spending on programming from $1.5 billion to $3 billion.
The NPD Take:
- Comcast’s challenge will be to convert free subscriptions to paid and paid ad-supported tier to paid ad-free to help generate revenue offsetting losses.
- Significantly increasing program spend could increase engagement and lower churn.