In First Two Weeks, 20% of Viewing on Max is discovery+ Content, Showing HBO Still Rules New Service (For Now)
In First Two Weeks, 20% of Viewing on Max is discovery+ Content, Showing HBO Still Rules New Service (For Now)
The rollout of Warner Bros. Discovery’s new streaming platform Max has had a few bumps, but on the whole, things are going fairly smoothly for the company. Its most important signpost of success is customer engagement, and a report from last week indicates that 70% of existing HBO Max customers had logged into the new streaming platform so far.
But the cross-pollination of HBO Max users to new content from discovery+ has not been as robust, at least not yet. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that 20% of the content watched on Max at that point was from discovery+. During the first week of Max’s existence, engagement was even slower; only 10% of the content watched on Max in its first days was from the company’s lifestyle streamer, so things are moving in the right direction by WBD standards.
This is likely not cause for immediate panic at WBD. Former HBO Max users are likely still taking time to explore the wide array of new titles they now have access to. It can be a bit overwhelming when your favorite streamer adds hundreds of new titles essentially overnight, and customers need time to figure out which discovery+ content suits them best. Long-time subscribers who came to HBO Max for its scripted series (such as “Succession,” “White Lotus”), movies (“The Batman,” the Harry Potter franchise), and even kid shows (“Sesame Street,” “Teen Titans”) didn’t have access to much in terms of the type of content that has now been integrated from the discovery+ library.
One reason users could be slower to adopt titles from discovery+ is that they haven’t found one that fits their viewing habits yet. Data released last week from streaming aggregation platform ReelGood indicates that Max has 1,208 TV series, despite the fact that on May 23 discovery+ had 1,917 TV shows and HBO Max had 642. That means that Max currently has around half the number of TV series that HBO Max and discovery+ had combined before Max’s launch. While the combined number of titles available on Max is lower than what the two services had available before, specifically for an HBO Max subscriber, the library has doubled in size.
It goes to show that while the “HBO” is gone from the name of WBD’s streaming service, it’s still a very HBO-oriented platform. That’s likely to do more good than harm, however; many industry executives have been leery about WBD dropping such a recognizable brand from their streamer’s name.
The company is no doubt gathering as much in the way of viewership metrics as it can now, so that when it’s ready to launch a free, ad-supported streaming platform of its own, it knows which discovery+ shows can be put there safely. WBD executives have confirmed such a service is coming, but they are trying to make sure Max is fully on its feet before moving to a new streaming venture.
New content from discovery+ has been less of a focus for Max than many originally thought it would be. However, considering the type of programming discovery+ is known for, that does make a certain amount of sense. The service specializes in unscripted shows that fall more into the “lean-back” category, while HBO series are designed to get viewers to “lean forward” and pay close attention. Streaming providers know the latter category is how they draw users into a service, while the former is how they keep new customers subscribed.
Users are still poking around Max, which means they may not be ready to start watching lean back content at a large scale just yet. And the 20% of viewers shows that there is an overlap in interest in just a couple of weeks since launch. If and when they are ready, there will be a much wider variety available on Max than there was on HBO Max, despite the fact that fewer discovery+ titles have made their way to the new service than was originally anticipated.
HBO Max
HBO Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library and exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Within HBO Max, B/R Sports allows users to watch live NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.