- Roku and WarnerMedia have reached an agreement to release HBO Max on Roku platforms after months of negotiations.
- The pressure on WarnerMedia to expand the HBO Max release ahead of the new film release strategy seems to be pushing the deal over the finish line.
- Insider Intelligence analyzes this industry and several others to provide in-depth analyst reports, property forecasts, custom charts and more. Learn more about what we offer.
Roku and WarnerMedia have reached an agreement to release HBO Max on Roku platforms after months of negotiations. As part of the deal, Roku Channel Store will not sell further memberships to HBO – a similar arrangement made by WarnerMedia and Amazon in late November. In exchange, Roku will receive a cut of the ad chart available in the ad-supported version of HBO Max, according to sources at Bloomberg. Roku ‘s contract follows shortly after two other HBO Max release announcements on Comcast’ s Xfinity services and the PlayStation 5.
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The pressure on WarnerMedia to expand the HBO Max release ahead of the new film release strategy seems to be pushing the deal over the finish line. The media company caused a stir when it announced in early December that the entire 2021 movie slate would appear on HBO Max in the US at the same time with play-by-play releases. It needs to be ensured that this bold strategy does not hinder circulation links that would be likely to end negotiations with Roku and Amazon as a priority. This agreement was announced less than 10 days before the release of “Wonder Woman 1984” on December 25 – the first major test under this new strategy.
In addition, HBO Max is gaining access to the last big catch among connected TV devices and that could significantly increase its membership account. In the seven months since its launch, HBO Max has gained 12.6 million active subscribers, a far cry from the Disney + 86.8 million membership account in its first year. But with this deal, HBO Max will now be available to Roku’s huge and growing audience, according to our estimates of 26.4% growth this year to 100.2 million U.S. users. And early data about WarnerMedia’s circulation deal with Amazon Fire TVs reveals that a large proportion of Roku listeners could sign up for HBO Max: In the two weeks following HBO Max’s deal on Amazon, about 38% of new signings clean for the service. Amazon Ecosystem, according to data from Antenna streaming research company.
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