Max’s crackdown on password sharing is already in effect in the US, and we’re expecting it to come to more territories this year and next. But while the crackdown is indeed coming to more places, it’s not doing so at high speed.
That’s according to Warner Bros Discovery’s CEO of streaming, JB Perrette, who explained during a conference call that “the password sharing crackdown… will take 12 months to 18 months to get to full steam”.
It’s still coming and will begin to be more enforced as the pricing for ‘Extra Members’ is announced in more regions, but it looks like for the time being at least Max is more interested in growing subscribers by deploying the carrot rather than the stick.
How Max wants to take subscriptions to the max and bring its shows to the UK and Europe
As Perrette told investors and journalists, there are “several big levers” to improve its streaming business and revenues. The first is rolling out to more places: “We’ve still got almost half the world to go to in terms of rollout in new markets.” Those new markets will include the UK, Germany and Italy “in the beginning of next year”.
The second big lever is getting more subscribers in the places where Max is already available. Perrette noted that Max is just 12 months into the “lower priced ad-light” service “to go after more price-sensitive consumers.”
But for Perrette, “content is obviously the fuel of this entire thing” and the content slate for “the next 18 to 24 months is stronger than anything we’ve ever had and more consistent… we went from not good to good” and the next step is “to go from good to great. That will help engagement, that will help time spent, that will help monetization.”
Disney’s David Zaslav also took part in the conversation, and said that the bundling that’s worked well in the US will be coming to other countries too. “Not just a bundle for price, but one that has a better customer experience… what we did here in the US with Hulu, Disney+ and Max.” As Zaslav explained, the bundles mean “less marketing, much lower churn”.
Zaslav predicts more consolidation in the streaming market. “Ultimately there’s going to be 5 or 6 players,” he said. Bar a few regional players that may be dependent on sports, “there will be [only] a few global players… it’ll be a better consumer experience and some of those 5 or 6 may come together in a bundle to make that experience even more compelling.”
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