Does discovery+ Price Increase Make Switching to Max Worth It?

The race to profitability is on, and streaming customers are facing the choice of getting out of the way or getting trampled. Ad-free streaming plans are rising in price all over the marketplace, and discovery+ got in on the game this week when it informed customers that effective immediately, its commercial-free plan was rising in price from $6.99 to $8.99 per month.

Ad-supported discovery+ brings in more money per subscriber than the ad-free plan, so its price is staying the same at $4.99 per month. But considering that much of the content from discovery+ is now available on Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming platform Max, some customers might be wondering if the time is now to make the switch.

How Much Content from discovery+ is Available on Max?

Discovery Channel classics like “Shark Week,” “Mythbusters,” “Deadliest Catch,” “Naked and Afraid” and the rest of its greatest hits are available at the click of a button on Max. Content from other WBD-owned channels that used to be available only on discovery+ also migrated to Max this May, which means there’s a huge amount of unscripted TV to choose from.

That includes selections from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network such as “Fixer Upper” and its various spinoffs. Food Network classics like “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and “Chopped” are also available, as are titles from TLC, Travel Channel, HGTV and more that were once only found on discovery+.

It should be noted that not everything from discovery+ was merged onto Max this spring, so users should search for their favorite title in the search bar above to see which platform it’s currently available on, or if both services have it.

Does the Price of Max Make Sense for discovery+ Users?

If $6.99 per month was the perfect rate for you to enjoy ad-free streaming on discovery+, the $15.99 per month cost to go ad-free on Max might cause a bit of sticker shock. But users who decide they can stomach a few minutes of ads per hour will find that for just $1 more than they are being asked to continue streaming discovery+ with no ads, they can upgrade to ad-supported Max ($9.99 per month) and get access to the full HBO library in addition to their discovery+ favorites.

Doubtless, this is a big part of the reason WBD decided to price ad-free discovery+ at $8.99. It makes plain that ad-supported Max for $1 more is too good of a value to be ignored, which is why it makes sense for users. As stated previously, WBD makes more money on ad-supported streaming customers than ad-free ones, so it’s also a logical move from the company’s perspective.

In short, if you’re mainly subscribed to discovery+ because it has the content you want at a very low price, going with the ad-supported plan of that service for $4.99 makes some sense. But if you don’t mind watching 3-5 minutes of ads per hour with your content, users can pay $1 more per month than they will be charged for ad-free discovery+ to grab an ad-supported Max plan for $9.99.