HBO Max Says Goodbye to Amazon Prime

                                                                                            Brandon Blake
Amazon has canceled HBO Max subscriptions as of last week, as WarnerMedia leaves its bouquet of channels. Anticipating significant subscriber loss with the move, HBO Max has announced a dramatic price cut to head off the potential hemorrhaging. With such a major entertainment business move afoot, we asked entertainment lawyer Los Angeles and industry expert, Brandon Blake, to weigh in on the implications. 


Amazon Prime Video subscribers accounted for just north of 5 million HBO subscribers, so this is no small shift. Will the lure of 50% off for the first 6 months be enough to entice these lost subscribers back, or at least to bring in replacements? Amazon has also fired back, offering $0.99c promotional subs for Paramount+ and other remaining streaming services for two months, creating an intriguing pricing battle all of its own. 


At first glance, the move seems sudden, but, in fact, stems from a 2020 agreement between the two entertainment giants. WarnerMedia wants to bring HBO Max ‘in-house’, and serve as the only entry point to the streamer’s content for subscribers. For Amazon device users, where there is wriggle room for a different solution, they have opted to separate HBO Max into its own app, available through Amazon Fire TV. 


It’s a pattern we’ve seen before from WarnerMedia, first with Roku and then Apple TV, but Amazon will account for the greatest loss of overall subscribers so far. Yet WarnerMedia is on record saying that they are happy to lose these subscribers in the short term if it gives them greater control and ‘ownership’ of the customer down the line. They want the ability to tailor the user experience and decide how they interact with their products, rather than relying on third-party suppliers. 


Will the bold subscription drop help them to reconvert HBO Max viewers impacted by this change? While it remains a little early to tell, we’ll be watching with great interest.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Kung Fu Panda 4 the Key to a Reinvigorated 2024 Box Office?

Image
 With Dune: Part Two having finally powered up the 2024 box office, it's time to build on that impetus if the wider box office recovery is to continue. There could be another strong contender lurking in the wings for this weekend’s releases- but it will doubtless surprise you to learn that this hope lies with the fourth installment of the animated Kung Fu Panda saga! Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney Los Angeles , Brandon Blake, has more on this ironic twist for us.                                                                          Brandon Blake Two $40M Grosses on the Cards For the first time since July 2023 and the Barbenheimer dual release, we have a chance at not one, but two, films grossing over $40M this weekend. In fact, those figures may top $50M! While Dune: Part Two has had the benefit of massive hype and anticipation, Kung Fu Panda 4 may well turn out to be the more profitable production. Dune: Part Two has already grossed over $100M globally,
Read more

Netflix Ad Tier Turns in Fantastic Growth

Image
 What a difference half a year can make! With Netflix’s ad-supported subscription tier first launched only 18 months ago, the streamer has managed to nearly double its subscriber base since the start of 2024. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer , Brandon Blake, fills in the details. Brandon Blake Impressive Subscriber Gains Netflix’s total subscribers for the ad-supported tier now number 40 million monthly active users. In January 2024, it was 23 million. The streamer was understandably gleeful to reveal this news at its first in-person Upfronts presentation in New York earlier this month. At its first-ever Upfronts presentation, which was held digitally in 2023, the ad tier had 5 million monthly active users.   Additionally, we were told that 40% of active signups now opt for the ad-supported plan, in countries where it is currently available. Of course, much of this can be attributed to a rather kind price ($7 domestically) for this tier, well below most of the other
Read more

Hulu on Disney+ is Officially Here

Image
While the Hulu on Disney+ Beta bundle has been live since last year, we have officially reached the point of full integration. Intriguingly, much of the executive focus on the new bundle has been around the technical advancements needed to unite the two platforms. You could take a look at entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake, from Blake & Wang P.A., looks in more depth at the united offering.                                              Brandon Blake Technical Advancements While few viewers are likely to know (or care, frankly) about the backstage technology that powers their viewing experience, Disney executives have been keen to hammer home the potential for happier, healthier subscriber engagement and retention with the new tech shift. They have gone as far as to call it the “most extensive technical advancement” since launch. At this point, it is clear that they are also hoping a more advertiser-appealing platform with better metrics can be leveraged to boost their highly su
Read more