Report: Nearly 40% of HBO Max Users Don’t Pay for the Service Thanks to Deals, Password-Sharing
Password sharing is one of the most frequent methods that customers use to keep the cost of their streaming subscriptions down. The average U.S. consumer subscribes to nearly 10 streaming services, and with many subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms running over $10 per month, the cost in order to stream all of the content that customers want can get out of hand quickly.
Despite frequent outcries from Netflix about the prevalence and harm of password sharing, the company that may be feeling the most pain from the practice might be Warner Bros. Discovery. The company’s premier streaming platform HBO Max is second only to Netflix with 14% of its users saying that they access the service with someone else’s password, according to research done by MoffettNathanson and HarrisX.
Shortly after Discovery officially acquired WarnerMedia from AT&T and Netflix began launching tests to curb password-sharing, AT&T CEO John Stankey said that he believed that HBO Max’s policy on consumers accessing the service with other users’ credentials was “the right way” to handle it.
“We were thoughtful about how we built the product,” he said. “We were thoughtful about making sure that we give customers enough flexibility, but we don’t want to see rampant abuse. And so I’m not going to go into all the details, but there were a lot of things and features built into the product that are consistent with the user agreement, that has terms and conditions of how they can and can’t use it.”
Despite the service’s thoughtful approach to the problem, the looming data point may make sense in a vacuum, especially when considering the fact that HBO Max is one of the most expensive services on the market — $9.99 per month for its ad-supported tier and $14.99 per month for ad-free.
But, according to MoffettNathanson and HarrisX’s data, password-sharing isn’t the only way that consumers are streaming the platform’s content free or at a considerably reduced rate. The study indicates that 21% of all HBO Max users are getting access to the service via a promotion of some sort, including from other services like their wireless plan.
Altogether, those numbers mean that at least 37% of HBO Max users aren’t paying for it. Even that might not be so bad if HBO Max were a niche service with just a few people watching its content. But its newest show “House of the Dragon” is a record-breaker, and on average HBO Max leads all streamers in terms of weekly viewership, with 39% of respondents to MoffettNathanson’s survey saying it was used weekly in their home.
The data puts HBO Max in a rather precarious position. The demand for its content is clearly high, but that demand isn’t translating into a willingness to pay to get it.
WBD is in the midst of a $3 billion cost-cutting venture, but this data shows that simply cutting costs might not be enough to right the financial ship. The company will have to try something besides simply cutting content and laying off workers to eliminate the debt inherited by the acquisition, because having nearly four in 10 users accessing HBO Max essentially for free is likely not tenable in the long term.
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.