HBO Max Saved Its Biggest European Launch for Last
Warner Bros. Discovery launched HBO Max in the UK and Ireland on March 26, after bringing the service to Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Greece in January. France, Spain, the Nordics, and much of Central and Eastern Europe launched in 2024, which made this year's rollout the closing stretch for HBO Max in Europe.
According to Appfigures Intelligence, HBO Max generated 2.6M estimated downloads and $2.7M in estimated net mobile revenue across its 2026 European launch markets in each country's first 30 days. That's net revenue, what Warner Bros. Discovery keeps after Apple and Google take their cut.
The UK Outpaced Europe
Our estimates show HBO Max was downloaded 1.2M times in the UK in its first 30 days after launch. Ireland added 59K more.
Germany and Italy, the two largest markets in the January wave, combined for 1.1M downloads in their own first 30 days. Germany generated 644K downloads and Italy added 416K, according to our estimates.
That gives the UK the strongest download start of HBO Max's 2026 European expansion. It also had a clear reason to move quickly: in the UK, HBO Max became the streaming home for TNT Sports subscribers, giving existing sports customers a reason to install the app right away.
Germany Converted Really Well
The UK came to play, putting up the biggest numbers in this launch, but Germany is showing more opportunity.
The UK generated $1.1M in estimated net revenue in its first 30 days. Germany generated $862K with a little more than half as many downloads. Italy generated $326K from 416K downloads.
That makes Germany look stronger than its download total alone suggests. Its first-month revenue per download was about $1.34, compared with $0.91 for the UK and $0.78 for Italy.
Don't Discount the Smaller Countries
Switzerland and Austria were much smaller than the UK and Germany by downloads, but more of those downloads turned into mobile revenue.
Switzerland generated 58K downloads and $204K in estimated net mobile revenue in its first 30 days. That's about $3.53 in net mobile revenue per download. Austria generated 56K downloads and $99K, or about $1.76 per download.
Greece went the other way. It generated 132K downloads, more than Switzerland and Austria combined, but $119K in mobile revenue.
A Small Drop in a Big Ocean
HBO Max's mobile revenue is massive, but it has been trending in the unpleasant direction for quite a while now.
Our estimates show the app generated $1.2B in net mobile revenue worldwide over the last 12 months, while monthly revenue declined 19%.
We estimate that so far the 2026 European launch contributed $2.7M, roughly 0.7% of HBO Max's global revenue between January and April of 2026. It's a start, but it'd have to pick up fast in order to change the trend.
I've said it before and I will say it again, content is still king, and it's HBO's secret weapon, should WBD choose to use it.
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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.
