WBD’s Max wants to be a ‘top 3 streamer’ globally, fueled by live sports and growth in EMEA
Illustration by Reagan Hicks /Shutterstock/The Current
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) executives have lofty global ambitions for the Hollywood studio’s Max streaming service, and they’re counting on live sports and European viewers to make them a reality.
Speaking at MIP London, Leah Hooper Rosa, EVP and streaming lead of EMEA at WBD, said the company is “striving to be a top three streamer with Max globally.” While Max is already present in 75 markets around the world, Hooper Rosa said that “when we look at growth over the next two years, a lot of that is going to come from EMEA.”
Hooper Rosa highlighted the growing appetite for WBD content in Europe, revealing that the European audience for the hit whodunit series The White Lotus grew threefold in the first week over the previous season. She also pointed to France as Max’s “biggest new market,” thanks in part to its partnership with local broadcaster Canal.
Sports are set to be a key driver of viewership and advertiser interest for Max, as evidenced by its recent decision to axe additional fees to watch sports content on Max in the U.S. The streamer will follow a similar strategy when it launches in the U.K. next year by housing content from TNT Sports, which carries the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League in the country, said Hooper Rosa.
Scott Young, group SVP of content, production and business operations at WBD, said the company’s focus on live sports is helping drive higher engagement and time spent on Max, especially among European viewers. The company reportedly smashed through its ad revenue target in Europe for the Paris Olympics last year.
Young also touched on the synergies created by WBD’s sprawling sports and entertainment arms. “It’s very easy for us to find the big, tentpole sporting events and match those up with the very large entertainment properties that come in,” he said. “We’ve got some big theatrical releases coming out already, working with our major sporting providers and federations and our own teams on how we get our sporting properties to amplify those launches.”
Hooper Rosa made clear that WBD is focused on achieving the widest possible distribution for Max, even if that means potentially letting competitor Amazon Prime Video distribute its Max streaming service in the U.K., Germany and Italy when WBD’s carriage agreement with NBCUniversal’s Sky ends next year. That’s not so surprising: The company’s strategy to bundle Max with Disney+ and Hulu in the U.S. is seeing 80% three-month retention.
WBD’s ambitions are backed by its recent growth: The company’s latest quarterly earnings showed 5.7% growth in subscribers globally for Max and Discovery+, with increases from both the U.S. and international markets. The company said it is aiming for 150 million subscribers by the end of next year.
Following a rollout across 25 European countries and several more in the Asia-Pacific region last year, Max is due to launch in Australia at the end of March. The U.K., Germany and Italy will see the service go live next year.
“Whether we’re late already, I think what we are definitely is that we have a 360 understanding of how this content now works, and we’re really starting to learn and watch how the audience engages in the platform,” Young said.