On this photo illustration, the Warner Bros. Discovery logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.
Rafael Henrique | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Warner Bros. Discovery‘s Max announced price increases for its ad-free options on Tuesday, as a spread of streamers make their memberships dearer.Â
The move comes only 12 days before the debut of season two of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon,” whose series premiere garnered nearly 10 million viewers, making it the largest in HBO’s history. Â
Max currently has three pricing options: with ads; ad-free; and supreme ad-free, which allows for more devices and downloads than the cheaper plans.
The worth of the ad-free option of the streaming service will increase by $1 per 30 days to $16.99, while the yearly ad-free plan will rise by $20 a yr to $169.99. The associated fee of the last word ad-free plan can even increase by $1 per 30 days to $20.99, while the yearly ultimate plan will jump $10 per yr to $209.99. The ad-supported option will remain unchanged at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a yr.
While the costs will take effect immediately for brand new subscribers, existing subscribers will see the value hike ranging from their next billing cycle on or after July 4.
The worth hike follows Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney’s decision to bundle their streaming services, Disney+, Max and Hulu. The bundle might be available in each ad-supported and ad-free tiers. While the pricing has not been disclosed, CNBC reported that it can be offered at a reduction in an effort to make it a more desirable option.
Warner Bros. Discovery last month missed each top- and bottom-line estimates for its first-quarter earnings report, despite adding two million direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers throughout the quarter.Â
In the corporate’s earnings call, CEO David Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery is hoping the subscribers will follow the bundle offering to make the most of cheaper prices, decreasing the loss of shoppers, which he said has been “the killer” within the streaming business.
This is just the second time Max has raised prices for its ad-free service since its launch. In early 2023, Max raised the ad-free tier price from $14.99 to $15.99 a month, a rise the corporate said would allow it to take a position in its content and user experience.Â
Prices are rising across the streaming world. Last month, Comcast’s NBCUniversal hiked each the ad-supported and ad-free offerings of its Peacock platform by $2 per 30 days ahead of its Olympics coverage later this summer. Last summer, Netflix removed its most cost-effective basic ad-free option within the U.S. and U.K. markets, offering a less expensive yet ad-supported option and dearer ad-free options as an alternative.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
