HBO Max Ups Ad-free Service Price For The First Time Since It Launched

Warner Bros. Discovery is increasing the cost of HBO Max by USD 1 per month as part of its ongoing efforts to improve the service’s user interface and programming.

For current customers, the rate increase will take effect on February 11 or during their subsequent billing period.

The price of HBO Max’s ad-free tier will rise from USD 14.99 to USD 15.99 per month, the company said on Thursday. This is the first price hike for HBO Max since its introduction in May 2020.

Warner Bros. Discovery officials have stated that there is space for growth in terms of streaming service prices, and the firm hopes to turn its streaming division profitable soon.

The price increase occurs before Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service launches in the spring of 2023. The combined platform will be known as Max.

In order to make streaming economical, the business has been reducing expenses, such as spending on HBO Max’s original shows.

Additionally, it is managing the significant debt left over from Discovery’s successful acquisition of Warner last year. By 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to generate USD 1 billion from streaming.

These things are without a doubt overpriced, according to Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who made the statement at a conference earlier this month.

And I believe that part of the reason for this land grabbing era was the capital market. You couldn’t lose enough money and couldn’t grow subscribers fast enough. I think that’s behind us.

In terms of the user experience, we’re going to have a fantastic product, and to be really honest, that’s HBO Max’s largest bottleneck right now. Wiedenfels stated at the conference this month that the experience is not where it needs to be.

While completely rewriting the software, the business has also been striving to enhance the user experience.