Warner Bros. Sees 1.8 Million Decline in Max Subscribers 3 Months After Rebranding

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 03 August 2023, 01:08 pm

Following the migration of HBO Max to Max, Warner Bros. Discovery says that about 1.8 million subscribers have left the platform in just three months of its launch.

The entertainment giant confirmed in a quarterly report on Thursday, Aug.3 that its 97.6 million subscribers in Q1 2023 declined to 95.8 million this time.

Max Subscribers Drop After HBO Max Rebranding

Warner Bros. Sees 1.8 Million Decline in Max Subscribers 3 Months After Rebranding

(Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TCM)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 14: The Warner Bros. logo is displayed before the screening of "Ocean's Eleven" during the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 14, 2023, in Los Angeles, California.

Back in 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery already hinted that there would be a merger for its upcoming streaming platform. In August of the same year, HBOX Max reportedly axed 70 employees. The company said that this move was done for service restructuring.

Following the rebranding to Max, Warner Bros. said that it lost 1.8 million users in the second quarter alone, per Gizmodo.

Indeed, this was a sad outcome for the streaming titan who hopes to earn revenues from its platforms. However, the launch of Max was not the sole reason for the decline in its content revenue and subscribers.

As per Gunnar Wiedenfels, the company's chief financial officer, the results can also be attributed to the finale of "Succession" and "The Last of US" season 1 on top of the overlapping number in the subscribers of Discovery+ and Max.

"The migration to Max has gone exceedingly well with the overwhelming majority of subscribers in the US successfully transferred. While we have seen some expected subscriber disruption, we have experienced lower-than-expected churn throughout this process," WBD CEO David Zaslav said during the earnings call.

Despite this, Zaslav is hopeful that Warner Bros. will recover for the remainder of the year as he expects the business to boom in the US soon.

What's Next With Warner Bro.s' Max?

While the plunge in the subscribers count seems to affect the revenue of Warner Bros., the company says that it does not always work that way.

Per The Verge, the company saw a 13% increase in streaming revenue for the recent quarter, accounting for $2.73 billion.

The company added that while the usual monthly price for the standard Max plan sits at $9.99, users can still upgrade their current plan to "Ultimate" for just $19.99. The difference in this service is that they could access the content in full 4K.

For those who still want to access the standalone Discovery Plus platform, you only need to pay $4.99 for the monthly subscription.

By 2024, Zaslav said that Max will be launched internationally for the "next year plus." He added that the streaming platform will soon be able to deliver live programming, paving more means for the shares.

According to Deadline, there's no timeline yet for when the news and sports programming will be accessible to Max. The company expects to reach out to more audiences through this rollout. This will also be an effective way to attract more shareholders who might be interested in Warner Bros' offer.