Disney+ vs. HBO Max - Who will Take the Lead in 2022?

The last few months have been busy for the top streamers in the US. Hits like the Matrix Resurrections and Encanto have been driving record revenue and even a lawsuit for HBO Max.

I've talked about these two and the category as a whole quite a bit last year, and if you remember, there was no clear winner when it came to revenue, last year.

That seems to be stabilizing lately, and one app is starting to show a commanding lead.

According to our estimates, that app is HBO Max, which added a whopping $64M of net revenue to its bottom line so far in 2022. Disney+, which led more than followed last year, added $43M of net revenue in the same period. And that's from both the App Store and Google Play.

What's more interesting is the stability you see in the trend.

Last week the makers of the Matrix sued HBO Max for releasing the movie for streaming at the cost of lower box office sales just to drum up subscriptions. Black Widow's Scarlett Johansson sued Disney+ for streaming the movie and cutting her out of revenue last summer.

It all makes sense. The losses streaming is now incurring, when compared to the more traditional box office revenue, is a small price to pay for becoming the leader once things stabilize and competitors will no longer be able to take a loss for growth.

For now, I don't think the losses will end, which means it's us viewers who ultimately win.

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