Despite launching six months later, HBO Max has overtaken rival Disney+, and its sister streamer Hulu, to grab third place in the U.S. battle of the streaming wars. According to streaming aggregator JustWatch, during the first quarter of 2022, the Warner Bros. Discovery streamer added 2% of U.S. market share to move into third place behind only Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
JustWatch uses data from over 20 million streaming viewers across 54 countries to provide insight into the industry and according to their findings, HBO Max is currently at 14% of the domestic market compared to Netflix’s 23%, Prime Video’s 19%, and Disney and Hulu’s 13 and 11% respectively.
Of course, if Disney and Hulu were to combine (and perhaps include ESPN+ as well), that would certainly shake up these numbers and the streaming industry as a whole.
In addition to the move made by HBO Max, fledgling streamers Apple TV+ and Paramount+ have both begun to gain momentum as well, each rising by 1% since the start of the year. Apple was the only service amongst the top seven to see an increase in market share over the past month with both Netflix and Hulu shedding a percentage point in the U.S. during that same time period.
With 75 million users in the United States at the end of last year, Netflix has begun to shift its focus to adding international subscribers as the domestic market might be nearing a saturation point.
One aspect that has yet to properly be factored into these numbers is whether or not Amazon’s 16% increase in the annual price for Prime will impact Prime Video’s standing with customers. Their market share has remained steady since the announcement was made in early February, but as the new prices for existing customers just went into effect on March 25, it might take a few months for that to be reflected in the data.
However, given that Prime Video is only one of a multitude of benefits that a Prime subscription offers, it is not likely to be a meaningful deterrent for streaming subscribers.
At the end of 2021, Netflix was still, by far, the largest streamer internationally with over 221 million customers worldwide. Amazon said that they were over 200 million at the end of Q4 2021. Disney+ had just over half of Netflix’s total with 111 million, while HBO Max was at 73M, and Hulu at 40.9M.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with 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. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.