Report: HBO Max Leads Streamers with Over 700 Award-Winning Titles; Good News for Future FAST Service
With all the turmoil surrounding HBO Max and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery this year, industry analysts began to wonder if the company was damaging its streamer's premium brand. A new survey from the London-based research firm Ampere Analysis suggests that, at least numerically, the HBO brands still deserve to keep their sterling reputation.
The report found that HBO Max has over 700 titles in its catalog which have been honored with an award, the most of any streaming service. Netflix and Prime Video are both next up with over 500 titles each. In terms of concentration, HBO Max is still the leader, with 21% of its titles being award winners. The considerably smaller Apple TV+ is next with 19% of its content library having won an award.
The last round of awards presentations was especially kind to HBO Max. HBO Max and its linear sister network HBO took home a combined 38 Emmys in 2022 across 13 separate shows. That led all content providers, with Netflix coming in second at 26 Emmys across 11 shows.
Related: How to Stream All 2022 Emmy Winning Series from HBO Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video, More
“Platforms that focus on delivering premium, top-end content to viewers unsurprisingly have highly decorated, award-dense catalogues,” Ampere analyst Joe Hall said. “The focus on quality over quantity is key to retaining and growing a subscriber base whilst maintaining a smaller library. With a shrinking pool of licensable content, emphasis should be placed on titles that consumers engage with long after the initial release. Those that are victorious at well-established awards ceremonies, such as the Emmys, not only prove their quality but can help to elevate a title’s profile to increase engagement.”
One interesting tidbit that the data from Ampere provided is that nearly 75% of HBO Max’s award-winning titles are over 10 years old. That means that their marketability is lower than shows like “The White Lotus” and “Euphoria,” which were honored with Emmy awards more recently.
So what can WBD do to further monetize these older titles? They would be the perfect fodder for the company to launch a free ad-supported TV (FAST) service, which it plans to launch after it completes the merger of its two streamers, HBO Max and discovery+. That merger is due to take place this spring, and a FAST service could follow after quickly.
Those older prestige HBO series could also be profitable as content on WBD’s cable channels. Speculation this year has indicated that the newly merged company could run episodes of iconic shows like “The Sopranos” and “Sex in the City” on TNT and TBS to both cut down on programming costs and encourage audiences to subscribe to HBO Max to watch the shows on-demand.
The use of premium, award-winning titles on FAST and/or cable channels would help WBD to instantly raise the profile of such a service. It would reinforce HBO Max’s premium reputation, and help the company revitalize titles that, honored with awards though they be, are likely not drawing huge viewership numbers on HBO Max currently.
HBO Max saw an increase of 2.8 million subscribers in the third quarter, but only 500,000 of those subscribers were in the U.S. The planned FAST service WBD will roll out after merging its two services will be a powerful tool for growing domestic user numbers, especially if the company stocks it with premium, award-winning titles.
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