HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ added 1.1 million subscribers in Q4 to end 2022 with a total of 96.1 million worldwide.
That’s up from the 95 million combined global streaming customers Warner Bros. Discovery hit from July 1-Sept. 30, the quarter during which the highly anticipated “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” debuted. During the Oct. 1-Dec. 31 quarter, “House of the Dragon” concluded its first season the second season of HBO’s hot Mike White drama “White Lotus” premiered.
Details about the upcoming combined HBO Max-Discovery+ streamer — which does not yet have a name, launch date or pricing details — will be revealed at an April 12 press day.
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Warner Bros. Discovery released its Q4 subscriber update Thursday along with its fourth-quarter earnings results.
For the quarter, direct-to-consumer revenue was $2.45 billion, up 6% from the prior year, when excluding foreign exchange rates, and on a pro-forma combined basis to account for that period being prior to the April 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.
Direct-to-consumer saw a loss of $217 million, though that was a $511 million improvement in losses year-over-year, again, on a pro-forma combined basis.
“With the major restructuring decisions behind us, this year we are focused on building and growing our businesses for the future, and we’re off to a great start,” president and CEO David Zaslav said in a statement accompanying the financials. “We’re seeing strong momentum across the enterprise, including our exciting long-term plans for DC Studios, the historic success of our latest HBO series ‘The Last of Us,’ the significant financial and operating gains in DTC, and the record sales of our newest game ‘Hogwarts Legacy.’ And with our unparalleled portfolio of assets and IP, a growing roster of exceptional creative talent, and some of the buzziest storytelling in the industry, we believe we have repositioned our businesses to take full advantage of the many opportunities ahead.”
On. Feb 8, news broke that Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to keep Discovery+ as a standalone streaming offering and to proceed with launching the yet-to-be-named combined product of Discovery+ and HBO Max.
An individual with knowledge of the situation tells PvNew that WBD’s plan for the upcoming platform that will include both HBO Max and Discovery+ remains “unchanged,” and, additionally, the company has decided to keep the lower-priced offering of Discovery+ in the U.S.
No date has been set for the combined product’s debut, though Zaslav announced during the Q4 earnings call Thursday Warner Bros. Discovery has scheduled an April 12 press day to reveal further details.
For reference, ad-free HBO Max costs $15.99 a month, while its ad-supported version runs at $9.99. Discovery+ without ads costs $6.99 a month, and the ad-supported version costs $4.99. Warner Bros. Discovery has indicated that the upcoming unified streamer will cost subscribers more than HBO Max currently does
