HBO's modern strategy won

Last week HBO Max aired the reunion of Friends. The same weekend Disney+ released its latest movie Cruella. This is the latest movie from Disney+ to require paying more to see the movie while its also in theaters.

I wasn't sure what to expect when Disney+ first used this strategy when it released Mulan, but after, it became pretty obvious it wasn't a good idea. I think it's safe to say that was proven again last weekend.

Friends on HBO Max got more downloads than Disney's Cruella

Report: Friends gives HBO Max more downloads than Cruella for Disney+

Friends fans flocked to HBO Max, adding more than 180K new downloads for the service on Friday, more than double HBO's daily average, and increasing downloads in the days after as well. Disney+'s downloads didn't fare as well, though, with Cruella earning a bump of shy of 20K downloads.

My take: Being stuck at home has forever altered the way we consume movies and not just the technical but also the perception behind how. As most streamers became very flexible with new content and even rushed to make it more available, why would someone pay extra for a service they already pay a monthly fee for?

That antiquated way of thinking, putting theater releases in a different class from streaming releases, is unlikely to stick around for long, and as no other streamer is even considering it, I think that'll happen soon.

Weekly News & Insights to Help Your App Win

Join 45,000+ developers, marketers, investors, and entrepreneurs who get smarter every week.


Related Resources

Insights
It Finally Happened! The Highest-Earning Apps in the World in October

I'm going to start this in reverse because the thing we've been waiting to happen has finally happened. If you've been f...

Insights
A Few New Faces! The Most Downloaded Apps in the World in October

October is behind us so we crunched the numbers and ranked the most downloaded mobile apps in the world. While I don't h...