The first-ever price raise has been announced by HBO MAX, a platform started in May 2020. It has been implemented from January 12; the updated price of a new HBO Max no advertisements monthly program the price will augment from $14.99 to $15.99 exclusive of taxes. It is approximately a 7% increase. Existing customers of HBO MAX will get the increased bill in their next billing cycle on Saturday, February 11 or after that. However, the price of an ad-supported program of HBO MAX will stay the same at $9.99 per month. It would be the best option for those who don’t mind watching ads and want to save money.
According to the company’s statement, the increased price will enable the company to keep investing, giving more culturally enhanced programs and making an overall better customer experience with HBO MAX. This price rise is not all of sudden thing, as the company hinted at a price in November when investors of the company were informed that the company is going to launch an ad-free subscription soon.
Many Streaming including HBO MAX Services Raised Prices
Moreover, Netflix has been raising prices more frequently over the few years; many streaming platforms increased prices as they can give the picture to investors that they can develop a successful business. However, HBO MAX recently eradicated much content that includes West world and many classic cartoons and Sesame Street episodes; this price raise seems just a little bit extra as you are paying more for a little less.
Warner Media Merged With Discovery
The merger of warner media and discovery was announced last April, and it now acquired a $30 billion market share, half of the $60 billion they concluded right after the merger. According to Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, it isn’t easy to achieve the target of $12 billion forecasted for 2023. According to CNBC, this price raise could help fill that gap. This price rise by HBO Max is the most recent one after the price hike of Disney plus in December. However, people faced a price rise for Apple TV Plus and Hulu in October, and Netflix hiked up their prices former year. HBO Max and Discovery Plus merger will soon happen, which will be named MAX.
Pending Merger Of HBO Max And Discovery+
The merger is expected to happen in spring 2023, the precedent of schedule. Since the warner media and discovery merged last year, it has been discussed to happen. Discovery stated 94.9 $ from direct subscribers from HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+, a rise of 2.8 million international subscribers by the end of the year. Concurrently, the international direct-to-user on average income was $7.52.
Chapter 2 For Warner Bros will begin in 2023
Raise in cost at HBO Max also plan to have a strategy-based assessment for cost-cutting after the merger effort, which led to the removal of some of the TV series, likewise “West World” and “The Nevers”. However, most of its content evaluation has been done, and WBD expects $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion of enhanced content and advanced cross-out.
However, WBD removed some of its programs. Ampere Assessment predicts the company as one of the pioneers in producing authentic material consumption rise in 2023, and it will invest more than $9.5 billion. However, Ampere still predicts international growth of its authentic content consumption will be the lowest one in a century, augmenting only 2 % year on year in 2023.
According to a Hollywood reporter, “We are going through an irrational period of spending much with a very restricted concentration on return on investment, and I think others will be making some flexibility that we friendly have behind us now,” Apart from that, the price will remain same for Disney plus ad-free plan that is $6.99 per month.
HBO Max Picked A Weird Time To Augment Its Price
If all the fun is about the wrong timing of price change, HBO Max chose the wrong time for the price hike. The streaming platform, launched in May 2020, is raising the price of its ad-free plan by $1, and users will now pay $15.99 per month for this plan. The price hike after around two and a half years is justified, but the timing is weird. As the “customer experience” element, HBO Max has a blatant approach for one of the demented platforms, with users complaining about navigation issues, going backwards or forward labels and other issues related to the user experience.
HBO MAX Eradicating Number of Shows from the Service
Users of HBO Max uses are furious about eradicating their favourite shows from the platform, like “West world” and “Raised by Wolves,” in a few months to manage the costs. The platform is still in debt of casts and crews, and those expenses are merged since this strategy will help it. According to a reliable source, the platform will have around $100 million in savings in a year.
According to the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, they will have more than $3 billion in savings in the merged company. Each department, including CNN, faced layoffs and cost savings last year.
Moreover, only some of its subscribers considered it terrible news since, for some time, HBO Max has been omitting Tv series and movies. A famous example is Batgirl, a DC character; the movie was completed but still excluded from the platform. The platform has promised to provide more content at less price, which has yet to happen due to the projects’ exclusion. They introduced the price raise policy right before the launch of one of the most popular shows, the video game adaptation, The Last Of Us. So if you want to watch it, you must pay the increased price. Is the extra one dollar worth monthly? Let us experience it to get the answer. For more entertainment news please check our entertainment section.
