22 APR 2021

HBO MAX EARNED 3 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS DURING Q1

The streaming service and company network received a 14.4% new SVOD subscription increase, collectively garnering over 44 million subscribers, surpassing the company's initial subscriber projection from two years ago.

22 APR 2021

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HBO Max and HBO have collectively garnered 44.2 million U.S. subscribers, AT&T revealed in its first-quarter 2021 earnings report Thursday,  pairing with the company’s initial projection by two years. “HBO Max continued to deliver strong subscriber and revenue growth in advance of our international and AVOD launches planned for June,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said in announcing the results.

Stankey confirmed that HBO Max usage is far over two hours per day per subscriber. As of the end of last month, the brand saw a 2.7 million increase from 41.5 million at the end of 2020. Its losses were outweighed by the gains.

This quarter, the service also saw a 14.4% rise of new subscription video on demand customers, followed by Amazon’s Prime Video with 13.2%, and Paramount+ and Disney+ with 11.8% and 11.6% of new additions, respectively, with Hulu at 10.6%, Netflix at 8.5%, and Discovery+ at 7.7%. “HBO is not just winning new subscribers, it’s also dramatically increasing the advocacy rates of its subscriber base at the same time,” Stankey said, noting the service improved its Net Promoter Score from tenth place to second. “This bodes well for both retention and word of mouth recommendation to drive future subscriber acquisition.”

Approximately 30.9 million are “wholesale” customers who subscribe to HBO and get HBO Max for free as a result, while 9.7 million “retail” customers subscribe directly to the $14.99/month HBO Max itself. AT&T did not break out the number of “activations” of HBO Max accounts by those who already have HBO, as the company has done in previous earnings reports.

HBO is not just winning new subscribers, it’s also dramatically increasing the advocacy rates of its subscriber base at the same time. This bodes well for both retention and word of mouth recommendation to drive future subscriber acquisition.” John Stankey CEO, AT&T