2023 has been a weird year for streaming. After the amazing growth services like Disney+ and HBO Max saw during the pandemic, where demand hit peak, the last couple of years have proven to be more challenging.
Demand has subsided as more people chose fresh air over screens while at the same time, more competition sprouted bringing new content and new choices, and a lot of what made titans like HBO and Disney grow - new exclusive content - wasn't streaming first but rather going to movie theaters.
We can see the impact of all three on HBO's mobile revenue.
This year, HBO saw its mobile revenue grow for a bit but then started crashing.
According to our estimates, the streaming service started 2023 with $59M of net revenue from the US in January from the App Store and Google Play. That's roughly 25% higher than January of 2022.
February dipped a bit but net revenue from the US rose in March to $64M. Net means what HBO gets to keep after Apple and Google take their share. April continued strong with the same amount, but May dropped again.
In May, the app also rebranded from HBO Max to Max, swallowing the discovery channel in the process.
More content is more better, right?
Not really! Every month after saw a drop in revenue.
September was Max's lowest revenue this year - just $48M. And that's net revenue.
Subscription apps are all about Attention, Conversion, and Retention. And for streaming apps it all hinges on new and exciting content.
I haven't seen too much of that on HBO lately.
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