HBO Max has already been launched across the Atlantic and intends to develop in Europe, including France soon. Here is what you need to know about this SVOD platform which competes with Netflix, Prime Video or Disney+.
The SVOD competition is heating up. In October 2019, HBO unveiled the first details on its platform, HBO Max. Since then, it has been launched across the Atlantic, and adds to an already diversified offer with Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Prime, Apple TV+, Peacock.
Since this launch, the objective of this new platform piloted by Warner and AT&T remains: to distinguish itself by betting on a high-end catalog. Where Disney+ highlights the quantity and popularity of its films and series, HBO rather highlights the uniqueness of its programs. “ Our productions will continue to have what they have always had: excellent writing, casting and direction, fantastic production and, just as importantly, a context [social, politique, ndlr] », declared at the end of 2019 HBO programming president Casey Bloys, who says he wants to “ deliver on the brand promise of quality “.
What are the prices for HBO Max?
The price of HBO Max is $14.99 per month without ads and with the best quality; or at €9.99 with the ads. It is one of the most expensive services in the SVOD universe.
The catalog: Game of Thrones, Euphoria, Matrix 4…
HBO promised 10,000 hours of viewing from launch, a promise kept. Here are some key titles, in terms of TV series, to be found in the catalog (but there are dozens more).
HBO Original TV Series:
- Game of Thrones and its future spin-off House of the Dragons
- Westworld
- The Gilded Age
- Station Eleven
- Euphoria
- I May Destroy You
- Succession
- Search Party
- Gossip Girl (reboot)
- And Just Like That (sequel to Sex and the City)
- The Nevers
- Mare of Easttown
- etc
Cult TV series also in the catalog:
- Friends
- Six Feets Under
- The Sopranos
- TheWire
- Doctor Who
- fringe
- Rick & Morty
- The Big Bang Theory
- etc
In terms of cinema, the catalog includes, for example, the completeHarry Potterfrom Lord of the Ringsall DC comics superhero movies ( (Justice League, Aquaman…), and the Warner Bros. There is also a simultaneous broadcast with the theatrical release. Thus, for certain films, they were available on HBO Max at the same time as their distribution in dark rooms: in 2021, for example, there are Dunes by Denis Villeneuve Matrix 4 Resurrections by Lana Wachowski. There are also recent blockbusters like The Last Duel.
What does HBO Max look like
During the launch press conference held on October 29, HBO Max highlighted the feature ” Recommended by humans — not without seeking to differentiate itself from the leader Netflix and its recommendation algorithms. HBO presents this as a central part of the experience.
HBO Max is also engulfed in the valuation of co-viewing: suggestions are displayed according to what the friends with whom you are connected are watching. ” Shared viewing will literally bring families together by making it easier to agree on content. You’ll be able to create a joint profile and get recommendations on your joint viewings — without disrupting personal profiles! », explained HBO.
On ergonomics, HBO Max relies on a clean interface, which is easy to use. For example, if you are a DC fan, you can select a filter to select only DC-stamped productions. Ditto if you want to filter only HBO original series or Looney Tunes. It is possible to make precise lists, for example all the episodes of Friends where a celebrity appears.
How many subscribers?
With an expenditure of 2 billion dollars for the launch, then 4 billion over the next three years, the Warner firm wants to reach 75 to 90 million subscribers worldwide by 2025. For comparison, Netflix has 158 million in the world.
The goal seems achievable. At the end of 2021, the service already had 73.8 million subscribers worldwide. And the service is far from being fully launched in Europe, for example.
Arrival of HBO Max in France
HBO Max has started to roll out in Europe: this is already the case in Andorra, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Norway, Sweden. During 2022, the service will arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia.
A few countries are missing, such as Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and… France. No implementation date has yet been announced in these countries, where there are already agreements between HBO and local broadcasters (such as OCS, HBO’s broadcaster in France). In France, it is more than likely that the agreement with OCS will not be renewed in 2022, which makes it possible to envisage that the service could arrive in France in 2023.
Moreover, at the end of 2021, Variety had announced that a management team for HBO Max France was already being set up, with the desire to launch directly with original programs. It is a former Canal Plus, Vera Peltekian, who will lead the branch of original content.
