Market Share: HBO Max is currently the fourth most-popular subscription streaming platform in the US, behind only Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, with an estimated 14% market share. The HBO mobile app, however, is the most popular streaming app, leading the market since Q1 2022. It has an estimated 21% market share currently, according to data from SensorTower. "Max" Coming Soon: HBO Max will soon disappear, to be replaced by the new "Max" platform, which also features content from Discovery+. Warner Bros. Discovery executives apparently feared that the "HBO" branding was too specific to describe the new platform, and not inclusive of children's and family programming which they plan to highlight. An ad-supported plan will cost $9.99 per month; $15.99 and $19.99 ad-free plans are also available. |
Growth Since Launch: HBO Max was launched on May 27, 2020, by WarnerMedia, then a subsidiary of AT&T, with a slate of original programming along with the bulk of the HBO catalog. The service started out with about 10 million pre-existing HBO subscribers who were added to the new platform at no additional charge, giving them a bit of a head-start in the scramble to add users. By Q3 of 2020, the company's first regular quarterly report to include HBO Max subscribers, the total global count was at around 57 million sign-ups, 38 million in the US alone. As of the end of 2022, that number has jumped to 96.1 million worldwide, with 54.6 million subscribers in the US.