Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar is in the spotlight after AT&T increased its leadership for the growth of its streaming service.
The company said on Friday it expects HBO and HBO Max to grow from 61 million subscribers by the end of 2020 to between 120 million and 150 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2025, compared to the previous forecast of 75 million to 90 million. The growth will be driven in part by the launch of the service in 60 international markets in June, as well as a cheaper advertising-supported service, which also starts in June.
Kilar told CNBC on Friday that the increased lead was due to ‘the market’s reaction in the first almost ten months, combined with the things we think will be very useful in Latin America and Europe, where we are currently present. . , both on the programming side but also on the distribution side. He added: “It’s not just what we believe will happen outside the US, it’s very much a function of where we’re going to run the US market in the coming years as well.”
Kilar has predicted that HBO Max will be one of the three new giants, along with Netflix and Disney + which passed 100 million subscribers earlier this month. And HBO Max’s upcoming ad-supported service – Netflix and Disney do not offer one – will give the company an advantage in offering a lower price.
“To be able to deliver the HBO Max quality experience, which is the quality of the very top shelf, to offer it at a lower price and let consumers decide which version they want,” Kilar said. “I think it’s definitely going to play a role in the US market.”
The company has not yet decided which markets will include an ad-supported version.
Kilar also said that the ad-supported version of HBO Max would actually be more profitable than the traditional subscription service.
“It will not be on day one. Give us probably four quarters, maybe eight quarters, to reach our scale when it comes to ad sales and ad placements and whatnot. But if you look at what the opportunity is – and I say it based on marketers and how much you put dollars on the table – to be part of this very light advertising environment where efficiency is quite high. ‘
What’s next for theater releases?
Kilar announced in December – to the dismay and confusion of content creators and theater chains – that HBO would be streaming Max Warner Brothers’ theater debut the same day they hit theaters.
The strategy was implemented only through the 18 theatrical releases Warner Brothers has planned for this year, Kilar told CNBC
“We feel really good about the decision, we feel very good about the strategy. I wish I could go back in time and that we were able to have one or two days of talks instead of day before we announced the news. I wish we would have had a week or two. “He admitted:” I think we could have done a better job in terms of communication and the conversations with the narrating partners and directors and producers and their representatives. ‘
According to Kilar, after 2021, the studio will look at two different strategies for two different types of photography.
“One of them is the vast and epic range of films you’re expecting from us, which has an exclusive setting. I think the run will be shorter than in the past. The world of DC and Harry Potter and such things; large, epic range of films that I think deserve and will have an exclusive theater management.But there will be other films as well, a large number of films going to HBO Max the same day films have been made available to exhibitors and theaters around the world . ‘
Between the movies that start exclusively in theaters, and those that go directly to HBO Max, Kilar says they will invest more in producing movies for both formats.