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Monitor is A sort of Weekly column Committed to happen on wired The cultural world, from movies to memes, from TV to Twitter.
Almost just a year ago, Warner Bros. made an amazing announcement: By 2021, all movies will be available in Published on HBO Max It was the same day they were released. Suicide Squad, Godzilla vs. King Kong, dune, Matrix resurrection-They are all. Almost all the fans resisted. dune Director Dennis Villeneuve Published a letter exist type Calling the launch of HBO Max a “failure”, Warner Bros. parent company AT&T decided to “sacrifice” the 2021 lineup of streaming services “a desperate attempt to attract viewers’ attention.” In many respects, Villeneuve is right-this is an initiative aimed at increasing the number of subscribers in a market that is increasingly saturated with streaming services. However, it also worked.
As early as when the company first announced the HBO Max movie plan for the day and date-the internal codename is Popcorn Project——HBO and HBO Max 61 million subscribers worldwide.Today, this number is Close to 70 million(For context, Netflix has nearly 214 million subscribers, while smaller cable TV networks like Starz have about 30 million subscribers.) At the same time, streaming services have strengthened by becoming a destination for original shows such as these. A certain degree of coolness. hacker, The critical dominance of HBO succession, And this week’s Sex and the city get rid of Just like that… “All things considered, HBO Max had a great year,” said Sarah Henschel, chief analyst for media and entertainment at Omdia. “Their strategy for releasing blockbuster films, such as dune Direct dates and dates on HBO Max keep the service relevant throughout 2021. “
In other words, HBO Max may have found a way to crack the streaming war.Subscriber growth is Stagnant Cross-streaming services, but HBO Max has been able to slowly and strategically gain a foothold in a business, When the service is started for the first time, It does not seem to have much room for new players-and it will only become more since then. (Hello, Peacock! Welcome, Paramount+!) And it’s serious to insist on the status it has achieved. One of the reasons for the downturn in the number of subscribers to the service in the third quarter of this year is that HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video have parted ways, giving priority to direct subscriptions to the service instead of those from Amazon. “Although this may slow growth in the short term this quarter,” Henschel pointed out, “but in the long run, this is strategic for increasing revenue.” She also pointed out that HBO Max’s ad-supported package is priced at $10. , And the standard price is $15, which is a way to expand its appeal in a crowded market.
There is no doubt that this is a gamble. Putting large-scale movies worth millions of dollars on streaming services in the hope of attracting and retaining millions of subscribers is a big bet. It can easily fail. This is also a game that may only work during the pandemic. Many people are still skeptical of theaters, and HBO Max provides a good choice for those who still want to watch blockbuster movies. It also helped Warner Bros., which has prepared a few movies and left them idle, but may not necessarily be able to produce more movies at the usual volume. HBO Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys said: “This is great for this service, especially when the schedule is not fully filled due to Covid-related production delays.” Told the condor recently“This is just an important stable source of movies that people love.”
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