HBO Max is finally here, but do you need it?
HBO Max is finally hither, merely practice you need it?
Today (May 27), HBO Max launched in the U.Southward. every bit WarnerMedia's big play in the ever-crowded streaming marketplace. While nosotros've been watching the platform grow from rumor to reality, its arrival tin can't assistance but spark a bit of confusion.
Why do we need some other HBO? Isn't regular HBO (via either HBO Now or HBO Become) enough? And how does HBO Max fit into the pack?
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When we started pondering HBO Max, the first matter on our minds was how it fit into the streaming mural, something we tackled in our HBO Max vs Netflix confront-off.
So, equally you're probable going to exist inundated with opportunities to sign up for HBO Max in the coming weeks, let'southward dive into what the aqueduct is, and how it will differ from the HBO you already pay for (or the 1 on which yous used to scout Jon Snow and Khaleesi).
HBO Max explained
Most people with whom I've talked nearly HBO Max don't think about the scattering of original shows or acquired films that HBO's using to draw people in. Their confusion centers around how the new app fits into the bigger HBO family. If you've read my HBO Max vs HBO Go vs HBO Now explainer, you'll notice that HBO'due south doing the heavy lifting for some HBO Now members, transitioning them over to HBO Max. That's good, right? They go more than content, and HBO does all the work. Other HBO subscribers have a more complicated road to travel.
The piece of cake-to-understand news is that HBO Max has the aforementioned $14.99 per calendar month cost as HBO's other standalone apps. At an investor event, WarnerMedia exec John Stankey referred to the determination to switch from HBO Go or HBO At present as an "IQ exam." Y'all like your HBO, right? Why not get more content for the same amount of coin?
And, yep, as our HBO Max June 2020 schedule lays out, some movies and shows volition exist available on both platforms. Of course, HBO Max is the style to become information technology all. Y'all desire it all, right, Freddie Mercury?
Why should you care about HBO Max?
To explore this situation, I got on the phone with Paul Dergarabedian, a Senior Media Analyst at Comscore, to talk about the HBO Max situation just days earlier its launch.
"I think the timing of [HBO Max] is solid," he said, "a lot of people are at dwelling house right now and hungry for content."
As Dergarabedian and I talked, nosotros focused on how HBO Max stands out in a crowded marketplace: how will HBO Max succeed like Disney Plus, while fugitive a Quibi-like launch? He told me that — at the moment — the platform isn't standing out for what'southward new, simply past beingness a library:
"It'southward just yet some other platform to deliver a lot of great content, but I think the most significant thing about information technology is the HBO originals that people tin picket," he said, referencing shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. "Think of the number of Emmy nominations amongst them!"
To which I replied, "You know, shows that are already on HBO." And this got me thinking almost the large uphill fight that HBO Max has ahead of itself. As of today, the platform has a single-digit tally of sectional original shows. And while our Honey Life review gave some positive notes to the HBO Max Original, the show doesn't announced to be a must-watch.
I watched the first few episodes of The Not Too Belatedly Bear witness with Elmo, and while I found it agreeable, information technology doesn't feel like a big hit bear witness that volition drive subscriptions — though I'k non the parent of a kid who demands more than Elmo.
Fantastic originals, that take over the watercooler — "the reason why many people would add HBO to their subscriptions in the original model," as Dergarabedian told me — might be necessary for HBO Max to feel like the HBO nosotros fell in dear with.
Why is HBO Max happening?
If HBO Max is keeping the same price, why couldn't HBO merely go bigger and brawnier to compete with the giant Disney Plus library and the even more diverse fix of options at Netflix. I've got a couple ideas, the most obvious being that WarnerMedia thought they needed to do meliorate to compete. A new service with a name that suggests a lot of content, like HBO Max, was better than merely improving HBO as information technology already was.
The other possible angle is that HBO may want more command over its subscriber base of operations. If enough HBO Go members switch from paying their cable provider to paying HBO direct for Max, that gives HBO more control over the subscribers' viewing habits.
When I asked Dergarabedian nigh my theory, he declined to say whether he agreed or not, only moved the chat to the fight for attention that HBO Max is inbound into:
"I think the event with every one of these types of subscription based platforms, consumers are met with a daunting array of options, Apple tree Idiot box Plus, Disney Plus, it's fantastic for the consumer to have this many options, but it's becoming rather daunting, it'south a lot to wrap your mind around — for how to partake in all this content, what does this new platform offer me that I can't become anywhere else?"
They're going to be asking that question a lot, every bit each of these services add up to an overall bill that subtracts a lot from the bank business relationship, or forces people to cut content to avoid prices similar to the cable bills we used to pay.
"It becomes a picayune confusing to consumers," Dergarabedian noted, earlier talking about how the multitude of HBO apps create an ecosystem that subscribers need to grok.
HBO Max's biggest launch solar day titles and time to come goals
For me, HBO Max is delivering one big collection of content that we've needed on streaming services for years: Hayao Miyazaki's animated movies from Studio Ghibli. Many folks feel the same manner most getting Friends back on a streaming service, considering how much HBO paid for the rights.
That being said, I wish I didn't demand a new subscription service for either of those. Ghibli movies are currently on Netflix internationally, where Friends used to be. But this isn't upwardly to us to decide.
The streaming public, however, will play a major role in deciding who wins and who leaves. Dergarabedian told me, "Over time, each one of these is going to accept to cleave out its own identity, both from a content perspective and a use perspective."
The latter perspective is where HBO tin can exist seen as needing to play ball with platforms more than information technology may want. For example, HBO Max is going to get full Apple TV integration, meaning the service'south shows will appear in the Apple TV app.
HBO Max changes what HBO means
From its days as the Home Box Office to today, HBO has changed quite a lot over the years. And HBO Max looks to change things even more. Equally John Oliver joked (on his ain HBO testify, Terminal Calendar week This night), "it'due south not HBO, it's just TV."
Dergarabedian dug into the make identity of HBO with me, saying, "People associate HBO, particularly their original content, with a certain type and way of show. Usually that means no restrictions, if you lot wait at contempo examples like Game of Thrones and archetype HBO shows similar Oz and Sopranos."
And so far, information technology feels similar we're seeing more than Max than HBO. We moderately enjoyed Dearest Life, and while information technology did have some nudity and adult language, it doesn't feel like a testify that had to exist on HBO. It even feels similar it could accept been on Hulu, as my colleague Kelly Woo puts it, "like a non-as-good Normal People." Similarly, The Not-Likewise-Tardily-Show with Elmo definitely feels like it could run simply earlier Jimmy Fallon on regular TV.
Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, if HBO Max has stuff that people want to watch. The Justice League Snyder Cutting has a vociferous audience demanding its release, and on the other side of the art and pop culture spectrum, the Studio Ghibli films have a cult-similar following, too.
"Is information technology a dilution of the brand to have likewise much content," Dergarabedian asked, "or is it a big plus to offering everything from soup to basics?" That's the big issue at the center of the HBO Max launch. Of form, we don't have a crystal ball, he said: "We won't actually know [up front], nosotros have to figure that out over time. Netflix evolved over time, they used to exist the company that sent you movies in the postal service."
HBO Max outlook
Time will tell if HBO Max can stand up toe-to-toe with Netflix, or if information technology will just create fifty-fifty more churn in the subscription service market. As it stands today, Dergarabedian thinks HBO Max'south success will exist decided by whether the service has a must-watch show. If it doesn't, he notes, "people are going to beginning figuring out where they need to cut corners, what services they need, which are essentials."
Yous tin learn from me, dear friends, as I've spent the last few years managing half-a-dozen memberships with a wide variety of niche streaming services, each from a different pro wrestling company. I ready a reminder every time I start a new subscription, for 27 days from the twenty-four hour period I subscribe. Then, I get a reminder asking me if I call back I still demand that service.
If HBO Max is a success, I won't even have to recollect twice, and I'll delete the reminder. I never think twice about Netflix. It'due south just there.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/hbo-max-is-finally-here-but-do-you-need-it
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