HBO and HBO Max ended Q3 with 45.2 million US subscribers, a 1.8 million subscriber loss from the previous quarter. However, globally, HBO and HBO Max gained 1.9 million subscribers, reaching 69.4 million subscribers in total. Overall, HBO and HBO Max saw a 12.5 million subscriber increase year over year.
WarnerMedia noted its decision to remove the HBO channel from Amazon Prime Channels as the cause behind the drop in domestic subscribers, while increased interest internationally offset the losses.
The company expects to reach 70-73 million global subscribers for HBO and HBO Max by the end of the year.
“We continue to execute well in growing customer relationships, and we’re on track to meet our guidance for the year,” said John Stankey, AT&T CEO. “We had our best postpaid phone net add quarter in more than 10 years (with 928,000 subscriber additions), our fiber broadband net adds increased sequentially and HBO Max global subscribers neared 70 million. We also have clear line of sight on reaching the halfway mark by the end of the year of our $6 billion cost-savings goal.”
To reach that goal for HBO and HBO Max, WarnerMedia will continue with its hybrid release strategy for its 2021 movie slate, bringing its new releases to HBO Max for their first 30 days while in theaters. “Dune” will debut on HBO Max later today, “King Richard” with Will Smith premieres November 19, and “The Matrix Resurrections” comes out in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22.