In remarks made during the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Discovery’s Chief Financial Officer Andrew Warren spoke about his company’s planned streaming service, HBO Max, and its bundle-mate service, Discovery+. The comments raised eyebrows among many media watchers because they suggested that there may be price hikes coming soon, especially with regards to new services like HBO Max and Discovery+. Mr.
Even while the number of streaming service subscribers is growing less rapidly, rates are still expected to rise.
Warner Bros. offers Discovery+ and HBO Max. Discovery
‘s two leading streaming services are “fundamentally underpriced,” said Gunnar Wiedenfels, chief financial officer, on Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Communnacopia Tech Conference.
Given the quality of the material on the services, which would be combined into one in the next year, Wiedenfels claimed the corporation has plenty of opportunity to hike pricing. Recently, Warner Bros. The merged HBO Max-Discovery+ service will debut in the United States in the middle of 2023, with foreign markets to follow.
Although Warner Bros. Wiedenfels’ comments imply that Discovery may use the merger as an opportunity to hike pricing even though the firm has not yet disclosed how it would price a combined service. At the moment, HBO Max costs $14.99 per month without advertisements and $9.99 per month with them. The monthly cost of Discovery+ is $4.99 with commercials and $6.99 without.
In comparison to other streaming services, HBO Max earned 38 more Emmys this week, according to Wiedenfels. HBO’s
Five prizes, including Outstanding Limited Series, went to “The White Lotus” at the prime-time event. Warner Brothers To decrease “churn,” or the amount of customers who abandon the service, Discovery’s goal is to blend HBO’s award-winning programming with Discovery’s lighter reality entertainment, according to Wiedenfels.
Price hikes abound
Netflix is the most costly streaming service available right now, with a base subscription costing $15.49 per month. Disney
announced pricing hikes for Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu last month, including a $10.99 monthly increase in the cost of Disney+ without advertisements.
Warner Brothers Last month, Discovery announced new streaming subscription goals, including 130 million worldwide customers by 2025. The corporation reiterated its goal of breaking even in its streaming division by 2024 and turning a $1 billion profit by the end of 2025.
Warner Brothers Wiedenfels stated that Discovery is not pursuing subscriber expansion at any costs. According to him, the decision to put profitability above expansion now gives the corporation more “price leverage” over its streaming companies.
Wiedenfels stated, “We’re not optimising for subscribers,” calling that kind of strategy “old world streaming” thinking.
