Six six-month lessons of HBO Max – TBI Vision

Today marks six months from the day WarnerMedia HBO Max’s US SVOD service launched directly in the midst of a crowded market and global pandemic.

Its entry on May 27 didn’t have the immediate impact of Disney +’s full intellectual property explosion, but the next six months revealed a lot – from surging international acquisition activity, to job cuts, to restructuring. and the costs of Covid-induced production stoppages. Here are six key lessons.

Power couples

HBO Max launched in a thriving US streaming market that included Netflix and Amazon, but also Disney +, Apple TV +, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, and ViacomCBS’s All Access most recently launched. However, the inability to reach a deal prior to launch meant it entered the fray without being available through two key services: Amazon Prime Video Channels and Roku. It hindered the streamer’s marketing efforts at launch, but also hinted at the inherent tensions between streamers just out of US studios and third-party aggregators. A deal with Amazon was finally reached in early November, but the service is not yet available through the hugely popular Roku. WarnerMedia and its rivals in US studios have completely revised their business models to put their DTC streamers at the center of their operations, but six months after the launch of HBO Max, it’s clear that their vertically aligned business models are not yet. as directly connected to their customers as they might like.

Swaying flagships

Easy to forget that just two years ago Netflix was shelling out $ 100 million for a one-year US license Friends, one of the crown jewels in the WarnerMedia library. WarnerMedia then took over the revived IP for $ 425 million – effectively a deal with itself – and is talking about a no-script reunion show that was rumored for months, before finally being confirmed earlier this year. Then the pandemic’s success and what was supposed to be the focus of the streamer’s initial offering faltered – and it wasn’t even recorded, though star Matthew Perry recently tweeted that the show was now set for March. It perfectly encapsulates the devastating effect of the pandemic on HBO Max – Kaley Cuoco’s production plans Flight attendant is another example and perhaps also partly explains the rather lackluster start of the streamer.

Hey, big spendthrift

The ripple effect of these early production delays continues, with HBO Max instead embarking on an international spending race to supplement its offering. In the past few days, the streamer has acquired the exclusive US rights to BBC One’s 2019 UK hit Christine Keeler’s trial, as well as Fremantle’s Spanish-language psychological thriller The pack. The past few weeks have also seen HBO Max acquire the rights to the British dark comedy Two weeks to live, alongside shows like Adult material, Possessions and a series of live-action children’s programs from Blue Ant International, while earlier this summer he added Gomorrah is Singletown. It hasn’t been a year to remember for producers, but distributors with the right shows have undoubtedly found buyers with spaces to fill, although it’s unclear whether it will last much longer.

The commissioning continues

And that’s because the streamer is by no means devoid of its originals or contrary to commissioning. He recently ordered an adaptation of the DC comic series DMZ by Ava DuVernay and Roberto Patino with Warner Bros. Television, while also unveiling plans to restart drama Freeform / ABC Family Pretty little liars. One show that managed to line up at launch was the hit by Anna Kendrick Love life, which was also quickly put back into service for a second season, along with Ridley Scott’s science fiction show Raised by wolves. Clearly, production can only go that fast, especially with the increased budget and the time-consuming Covid-19 alternatives, but it suggests that the takeover spree won’t last too long. It is also worth noting that this summer was not a one-way trip for programming on the Atlantic: Love life, by Lionsgate, it was chosen by the British BBC for its iPlayer VOD service in September.

“Painful but critical” job cuts

There was a lot of talk in May about restructuring and layoffs, but measures were relatively poor. That has all changed in the past six months, with WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar recently labeling it “painful” but “critical”. Parent company AT&T has reportedly tried to cut costs around 20% to tackle Covid and focus on streaming, with most of the cuts to date being felt in North America, where a string of big-name departures ranging from Bob Greenblatt to HBO creative chief Max Kevin Reilly walked away. Since then, the process has started to affect international sales and operations, with renovations in Asia, departures in Europe, including that of Josh Berger, longtime head of Warner Bros. UK, Ireland and Iberia, and distribution. On the latter, head of sales Jeffrey Schlesinger walked away along with the marketing director of Warner Bros. Television Group, emphasizing the square focus on DTC.

Growth, globalization and AVOD

Given all of the above, it’s good that HBO Max’s lukewarm start to life has started to heat up. Last month, AT&T revealed that the streamer added 8.6 million subscribers in the third quarter, more than doubling the 4.1 million it attracted in the second quarter. Investments had reached $ 600 million in that period, bringing total spend to $ 1.3 billion since launch in May, while an AVOD service is also accelerating. International plans are also well underway, with Johannes Larcher, former CEO of Middle East streamer Shahid hired in July to oversee the launch, with Priya Dogra being promoted to EMEA and APAC as part of the new global structure. Latin America, however, will be the streamer’s first port of call, but it remains to be seen how HBO Max will expand elsewhere. SVOD made a co-production deal with Sky last year, as revealed by TBI, while its approach in Asia is also unclear: it launched the HBO Go service in Taiwan in the past six months and just today unveiled a deal. with a Thai provider, which will become the “home of HBO” in that country. The past six months have taught us a lot, but HBO Max still has a lot of work to do.