HBO Max piles pressure on Netflix and Disney Plus with latest streaming milestone

Date:
Fri, 20 May 2022 11:32:28 +0000

Description:
HBO Max accounted for 1% of total viewing time in the US during the month of April.

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HBO Max just passed another major streaming milestone to solidify its
standing as the foremost competitor to Netflix and Disney Plus.

For the first time since its launch in 2020, the streamer has featured by
name in media analyst Nielsens monthly platform rankings , having commanded
1% of total US viewing time in the month of April.

That might not sound like a figure to write home about, but HBO Max had hitherto been confined to the other streamers category in the data firms regular audience snapshot. For comparison, Disney Plus and Netflix commanded 1.7% and 6.6% of total US viewing time in April, respectively, while
streaming services overall broke the 30% barrier for the first time.

The latter statistic isnt a surprise. Cable viewing ate up just 36.8% of last months total viewing time, and it doesnt seem long before streaming becomes the dominant method for accessing entertainment worldwide (overall TV use
fell by almost 2% versus March).

But HBOs continued momentum suggests Netflix and Disney Plus won't be the
only services responsible for the shift when that time comes. The latter
still boasts almost twice as many subscribers at the time of writing, though with Netflix leaking customers and HBO Max expanding rapidly through European territories, the Warner Bros. Discovery streamer has every chance of
levelling the playing field in a matter of years. HBO and HBO Max reported a combined total of 76.8 million subscribers in March 2022 (Image credit: TechRadar)

Back in January, we published an article detailing the exceptional year HBO Max enjoyed in 2021 the service surpassed its year-end subscriber goal and then some but we also warned against expecting it to repeat that same
success in 2022.

Our skepticism came from fears that the global pandemic drove a disproportionate amount of subscribers to HBO Max in 2021, with Warners day-and-date release schedule making blockbusters like The Suicide Squad ,
The Matrix Resurrections and Dune available to watch on the streamer at the same time as their respective theatrical releases (essentially making HBO Max a hotter property than it otherwise might have been).

Warner axed day-and-date movie releases at the turn of the year, suggesting HBO Max wouldn't benefit from a similar injection of subscribers in 2022 but the streamers recent content slate has nonetheless continued to prove critically and commercially attractive.

Despite not releasing simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters, tentpole movies like The Batman have still landed on the streamer after 45 days, while new shows including Euphoria , Peacemaker and The Flight attendant rank among this years most popular TV releases.

The HBO library is only set to get better, too. The likes of Westworld season 4 , Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon and (we think) The Last of
Us series are all set to arrive on HBO Max before the year is out, while new instalments of Barry and Succession are also on the way.

The point being, with all the noise around the struggles facing Netflix and the relentless coverage for Disneys Star Wars and Marvel properties, it can
be easy to think of the so-called streaming wars as a two-horse race. But HBO Max is in rude health, and the service may come to usurp one of its two biggest rivals much sooner than we think. Speaking of Succession, here's when we think season 4 will arrive



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/hbo-max-piles-pressure-on-netflix-and-disney-pl us-with-latest-streaming-milestone/


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