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HBO Max has bumpy start, 'isn't a game changer for AT&T,' analyst says

AT&T's newest streaming service, HBO Max, may be filled with DC superheroes, wizards, hobbits and Looney Tunes, but that may not be enough for investors.

www.cnbc.com

The content, the $15 monthly fee to use the service, roughly the same cost of HBO as part of a cable package, and the fact that the company did not secure deals with Roku and Amazon to make the product more widely available to the market have led Michael Nathanson, one of the lead analysts at MoffettNathanson, to dub HBO Max an “opportunity lost.”

Because of this, “HBO Max isn’t a game changer for AT&T,” Jayant wrote.

“We see little chance that investors will begin to look at AT&T on a sum-of-the-parts basis, valuing HBO Max on a per-subscriber basis, as with Disney and Disney+,” he said.

Just under 90,000 people downloaded the HBO Max app on its launch day last week. That doesn’t include any of the existing HBO and HBO Now customers who may have been automatically switched to the HBO Max service. Around 8 million people have HBO accounts, but it’s unclear how many of them took advantage of the new HBO Max option.

In comparison, Quibi (which is already dying) got 300,000:

Quibi App Downloads on Launch Day Were 7.5% of Disney Plus’ Booming Debut

Quibi’s first-day app downloads hit around 300,000, coming after months of steady hype surrounding Jeffrey Katzenberg’s ambitious mobile-only streaming service. That’s according t…

variety.com

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[Sub_Level]

One thing that could help both DC and HBO a little is going all in on DC. Keep DC Universe as a separate service for comics, but all the cartoons and shows could go to HBO.

But who am I kidding I will be enjoying Batman The Animated Series on Disney+++ in 2035 with my kids (who are also owned by Disney).

 

[haxan7]

Terrible time to launch a new service with the clown show going on

 

[kunonabi]

So wait the app isnt available Roku or Amazon devices? L O Freakin L.

 

[Grinchy]

I do find it a little odd that the only thing I really know about it is that it has the Snyder cut of Justice League, but not yet, sometime next year, but it's out now for $15/month so I can watch...Looney Tunes or something? I think I saw that was on it too.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Not launching with Amazon Fire and Roku support was a bad move.

In fairness, I’m sure there are a shit ton of pre-existing HBO Now accounts who automatically switched over so they didn’t count

Snyder cut is cancelled?

It’s a little deceiving. Existing HBO Now customers didn’t have to download anything so they aren’t in the number. HBO isn’t dying

 

[nush]

Snyder cut is cancelled?

 

[TrainedRage]

I don't even know what HBO max is... I have HBO on Amazon... Why do I need this?

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I don't even know what HBO max is... I have HBO on Amazon... Why do I need this?

I had HBO thru Amazon. Dropped it for Max.

Max is just all regular HBO content with some Max exclusive content added.

Now customers were automatically converted with an app update

 

[Alcibiades]

I don't even know what HBO max is... I have HBO on Amazon... Why do I need this?

You don't need it, but it's like a souped up regular HBO.

You get:

-regular HBO
-TCM collection
-some Crunchy Roll stuff
-DC movies + some shows
-some CW stuff
-some staples like Friends and Big Bang Theory

I got it a few weeks ago for basically one show - Watchmen, cause I had read the comic and watched the movie and wanted more. I don't know if I'll keep it, but it does have A LOT of good stuff.. I don't generally watch TV though I'm more of a cinema guy and now that theater are open here I'd rather go to that.

 

[Mihos]

I have it, but none of my smart TV or streaming devices have an app yet. It was free with my internet/TV provider

 

[Deleted member 1159]

If it completely cannibalized all existing Now customers, is this terribly shocking? I mean, I’m not itching to sign up and don’t care about Friends reruns or whatever, but if the current install base was just getting switched over....could you compare the week 1 increase against a typical week over week increase?

 

[JLMC469]

People aren’t going to subscribe to see Justice League .

The movie was flop. You cannot undo/redo that crap.

 

[Brian Fellows]

I have HBO but not a participating provider. So I don’t get MAX.

 

[teezzy]

I already use my friend's HBO thing, and CW shit is on Netflix.

This is why blu ray box sets were better. Might as well have cable again.

 

[GoldenEye Samurai]

I don’t need any more streaming services thank you very much.

 

[DeafTourette]

People aren’t going to subscribe to see Justice League .

The movie was flop. You cannot undo/redo that crap.

It's not even the same movie since they re-shot 85% of it and changed so much of the story.

I have HBOMAX... Pre-ordered before I even knew about the Snyder Cut coming... I really wanted to get back to it.

Only thing I miss with HBO is the Real Sex series... And it's not on HBOMax.

 

[Sejan]

I don’t need any more streaming services thank you very much.

These companies need to realize that we have enough streaming services. I certainly don’t need Peacock, HBO Max, Quibi, and who knows what else. On top of being unnecessary, it was unnecessarily expensive.

I actually dropped Netflix earlier this year since it was getting more expensive.

 

[JLMC469]

It's not even the same movie since they re-shot 85% of it and changed so much of the story.

I have HBOMAX... Pre-ordered before I even knew about the Snyder Cut coming... I really wanted to get back to it.

Only thing I miss with HBO is the Real Sex series... And it's not on HBOMax.

Still Snyder man. The dude can’t make a coherent story if his life depended on it, the editing is horrendous and the pacing is all over the place. It’s always the same in his movies.

 

[GoldenEye Samurai]

These companies need to realize that we have enough streaming services. I certainly don’t need Peacock, HBO Max, Quibi, and who knows what else. On top of being unnecessary, it was unnecessarily expensive.

I actually dropped Netflix earlier this year since it was getting more expensive.

They don’t care that we have enough streaming services, bro. I’m really worried that everything is going to be so fragmented in a year or two that we’re going to need like 150 subscriptions just to access everything we want. Then again, I won’t do it. Luckily anime hasn’t found itself that fragmented as of yet, so that’s a positive in my mind. Everything else is going to shit, though.

 

[mango drank]

I've got the app on my PS4, and I made it so my TV remote controls the PS4, but it's kind of a ghetto setup. It's really dumb that the app isn't on Roku or Fire TV. I got the subscription at the preorder discount rate, but even so ... eh, not sure it's worth keeping long-term.

EDIT: screw it, I just sideloaded the Android TV version onto my Fire TV. Working fine so far.

 

[Sejan]

They don’t care that we have enough streaming services, bro. I’m really worried that everything is going to be so fragmented in a year or two that we’re going to need like 150 subscriptions just to access everything we want. Then again, I won’t do it. Luckily anime hasn’t found itself that fragmented as of yet, so that’s a positive in my mind. Everything else is going to shit, though.

The problem is that we don’t want those services. We especially don’t want them at those prices. Disney plus showed how to do it, they released a limited product at a reasonable price. I think that average consumer will keep 3 service at most, and just skip the rest.

My wife and I have pretty much decided to juggle Hulu Plus and Netflix based on a few shows as they come out.

 

[Chiggs]

HBO Now app transitioned into HBO Max, so the numbers posted above don’t really tell the tale.

HBO subscribers: You can get HBO Max and stream The Little Things today for free

You may already have HBO Max for no extra charge. Here's how to find out.

www.cnet.com

 

[GoldenEye Samurai]

The problem is that we don’t want those services. We especially don’t want them at those prices. Disney plus showed how to do it, they released a limited product at a reasonable price. I think that average consumer will keep 3 service at most, and just skip the rest.

My wife and I have pretty much decided to juggle Hulu Plus and Netflix based on a few shows as they come out.

True... The only streaming services I have are Hulu Plus, Funimation Now, SlingTV, and for music, Spotify. Been that way for a while now and I don’t see it changing any time soon.

 

[Cunth]

I don’t even keep subscriptions with any of these friggen companies anymore. I just switch around month by month. There are so many bloody streaming services

 

[Flying Toaster]

I have Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, Amazon. That is getting close to cable bill territory if I get Max and a better music streaming service. I wish there were not a million billion services to catch a few interesting shows.

 

[Liberty4all]

We’ve got Netflix, Prime Video, Stack TV (12.99 a month canadian service that gives me a number of specialty cable channels like HGTV History and Food Network but streamed) and Disney+. I’ll be cancelling Disney next month and Prime Video we only have as a byproduct of Amazon Prime.

We are actually using Stack TV the most. It’s basically cable “lite” ... but has channels we watch heavily Both live and lots of on Demand content.

I discovered I like bare bones cable package i can stream. While there are basic cable packages offered by cable companies I get most of the channels they offer OTA. Having a cheap specialty channel package I can stream Is great and it integrates perfectly with my Firestick being a prime video channels offering.

I am assuming you guys in the States have similar channel offerings via Prime?

 

[GAMETA]

I already got Netflix and Prime Video... all this streaming shit is getting out of hand tho, most of the time the movies I wanna watch are not in the catalog, so what's the point?

Thinking of getting one of those pirate cable TV decoders that run even Japanese channels, stealing signal directly from the fucking satellites.

And stealing my ass, the fuckers are already bombarding us with the signals anyways, I'm just reading what's in the air, nothing immoral about that, fuck them

 

[Stilton Disco]

The market is utterly over saturated now.

I've got a subscription to Amazon Prime, Now TV, Netflix and Britbox, and we're planning to drop Now TV and Netflix once we're done with the last couple of shows we want to watch on them, hopefully in the next fortnight.

It's just too much money and too much hassle to keep up with what's on what service and which device will play it.

Streaming was meant to be about convenience and cost saving, now it's neither of those things and I feel like I'm wasting my time trying to find things to watch to justify the expenditure.

 

[GoldenEye Samurai]

Oh crap... I forgot I had Amazon Prime too. I guess chalk that one up there as well. I don’t even know why I have all of these services, though. I never use them. Waste of money really, but I guess having them there is comforting. I use Spotify and SlingTV (for AEW Dynamite on Wednesdays) the most.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I laughed out loud at the coming soon commercial I saw last night for the NBC Peacock streaming service too.

They’re pushing it with all these services, so not a shock that this comes out the gate slowly.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Seems like a bit of a Wii U situation. I thought HBO Go already existed and had to stop to read what was different about HBO Max.

Too many services. We're past the dilution stage and into the market-flooding stage.

 

[Bolivar687]

There was a deal shortly before launch to get locked in at $11.99 for a year and you got access to HBO Now when you did. Sounds like everyone who did that and downloaded Now first wasn't counted in this.

 

[HellforLeather]

It auto updated on my TV and, other than the new UI, I hardly noticed.

 

[GV82]

not on Roku, nor Amazon yet.
Not sure about apple TV, so it’s a very limited release app.

Which is dumb

 

[crazepharmacist]

Don't care. As long as they keep paying me that sweet 7% dividend I'm good.

 

[SometimeLaterToday]

Strange marketing, poor launch window and two other similarly named services certainly couldn't have helped things.

 

[manfestival]

I wonder how it fares now to the officially dead Quibi

 

[TheContact]

quibi was also $5 a month as opposed to $15, and hbo max isn't on roku devices still

 

[kunonabi]

I got HBO Max like a week ago since it was free with our AT&T service and eh. Selection and interface aren't great and outside of my PS4 we can only watch it on our phones. I don't know it really seems half-baked to me.

 

[Pagusas]

Glad i get it free with ATT internet. Otherwise wouldnt touch it

 

[The Pleasure]

I'm still waiting for the new season of the boondocks before I subscribe.

 

[Piku_Ringo]

The wait for the Snyder cut continues.

 

[Goro Majima]

I watch Curb on my phone and I've watched a few movies on my Xbox so far. All the other TVs in the house have Amazon Fire Sticks so apparently we're just never going to watch this or Peacock on those?

I also get it free from ATT so it's not a huge deal. The Peacock thing is more annoying because I like watching old NBC comedies.

 

[Arkam]

We have any new numbers? Been hearing a decent amount of buzz recently.

 

[TheMan]

I have hbo max after subbing to Hulu, but I think the problem is fragmentation. It's confusing. Hbo now, hbo go, hbo max, and hbo through different services (at one point I had hbo through itunes, later through prime). I don't understand why they muddied the waters so much.

 

[godhandiscen]

How many apps does HBO have?

I used to get HBO content through Amazon Prime, but I cancelled it since I barely watched anything.

 

[Heavy_D206]

HBO Now was replaced by HBO Max, and HBO Go is for logging in through your Cable provider.

 

[Seraphym]

In the UK, so have Amazon, NowTV, Netflix, Disney+. Short of a VPN there is no way to get HBO in the UK, I have been wanting to see Raised by Wolves...
Not saying that would massively effect numbers but surely a European rollout wouldn't do any harm?

 

[Kadayi]

In the UK, so have Amazon, NowTV, Netflix, Disney+. Short of a VPN there is no way to get HBO in the UK, I have been wanting to see Raised by Wolves...
Not saying that would massively effect numbers but surely a European rollout wouldn't do any harm?

It would be nice, but I don't think it's going to happen, as HBO stuff tends to get aligned with SKY for the most part. You might want to Jack Sparrow Raised By Wolves because unless SKY plan on broadcasting it (and so far there's little indication they're picking it up) I don't think it's ever likely to see the light of day here.