New streaming service to be launched by Warner Bros. Discovery
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LONDON: Executives at HBO Max and Discovery+ have revealed their plans to combine the two platforms' offerings and launch a new streaming service next summer. After a meeting with investors on Thursday, the two companies laid out the scope and strategy of their streaming ambitions, announcing that both paid and free services will be offered.
With the aim of reaching 130 million paying subscribers by 2025, the platform will offer content currently distributed on HBO Max and Discovery+. The parent companies of HBO and Animal Planet merged earlier this year to form Warner Bros. Discovery.
The new company's "bouquet of owned content," was praised by David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, and said that both a one-time paid subscription product and a free service supported by an advertising-based revenue model will be offered. "The fact is there are only a handful of companies globally that can do what we do," he said. "And putting it all together, we believe no one does it better than us.
"The new service's name was not mentioned, but executives said that by next year it will be launched in the US and expand globally in subsequent years. Zaslav said that a "disciplined strategy," will be adopted by Warner Bros. Discovery. He added that the company intends to move away from growth-at-any-cost strategies common in the streaming business, Arab News reported.
"Owning the content that really resonates with people is much more important than just having lots of content," he added.
"In other words, at a time when almost every piece of content ever made is available to consumers across any number of free and paid services, curation, quality and brand have never been more important."
The streaming service market has not been performing well in recent months, after having a boom during the pandemic era.
Fierce competition and fears of a recession have prompted many users to cancel their subscriptions.
Warner Bros had earlier this week cancelled the release of "Batgirl," the $90 million DC superhero movie which was expected to be distributed through HBO Max. This step was taken as part of the company's broader plan to boost subscribers, reaffirming the intention of the company to give priority to quality over quantity.
