HBO Max has implemented its first price increase since launching in 2020, raising the cost of the SVOD service by $1 in the U.S. to $15.99 per month.
Existing subscribers will see their monthly bill increase on or after February 11, 2023.
“This price increase of one dollar will allow us to continue to invest in providing even more culture-defining programming and improving our customer experience for all users,” HBO Max said in a statement.
The price bump to HBO Max comes ahead of the launch of a new streaming service from owner Warner Bros. Discovery, which plans to combine HBO Max with Discovery+ into a single platform. The launch of that service is expected this spring, but other details such as exact timing and pricing haven’t been disclosed.
Speaking at the Citi Communications, Media & Entertainment conference earlier this month, WBD CFO Gunner Wiedenfels suggested pricing on streaming services had been too low, partly driven by companies’ focus on subscriber growth alongside a land grab for then-easily available capital. The finance chief noted several streaming services have raised prices over the past few years and thinks there’s a growing consensus that a phase of “dumping pricing is over.” Wiedenfels also suggested pricing for the forthcoming combined streaming service from WBD, which is expected to have both an ad-free and an ad-lite version, could be higher than what the company currently charges.
“We will, with the combined product, bring something to the market that I have no doubt is going to be the best streaming product in the marketplace, and we’re not priced at that level right now in the U.S., more so internationally,” he said.
The price bump at HBO Max also follows a strategic programming assessment as part of a post-merger cost savings effort, which resulted in some shows being pulled from the service such as “West World” and “The Nevers.”
With much of its content assessment now completed, WBD expects $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion of content impairment and development write-offs.
While WBD axed some projects, Ampere Analysis expects the company to be one of the leaders driving original content spending growth in 2023, with investment that exceeds. $9.5 billion. Still, Ampere forecasts global growth in original content spending will be at its lowest in a decade, increasing just 2% year over year in 2023.