Warner Media CEO Jason Kilar is in the spotlight after AT&T stepped up its guidelines for developing its streaming service.
The company said Friday that it expects HBO and HBO Max to grow from 61 million subscribers by the end of 2020 to 120-150 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2025, up from its previous forecasts of 75 to 90 million. This increase will be partly due to the launch of the service in 60 international markets in June, as well as a lower-cost advertising service, which will start in June.
Kilar told CNBC on Friday that the increased focus is due to “the market response in the first nearly 10 months, combined with things we think will be quite useful in Latin America and Europe, where we have an existing presence, both in terms of programming, but and from the distribution. He added: “We don’t think it’s going to happen just outside the US, but it’s largely a function of where we see the US market going in the years to come.”
Kilar predicts that HBO Max will be one of the three streaming giants to appear, along with Netflix and Disney +, which surpassed 100 million subscribers earlier this month. And the next HBO Max advertising service – Netflix and Disney don’t offer one – will give the company a lower price advantage.
“To be able to offer the HBO Max quality experience, which is at the highest level in terms of quality, to be able to offer this at a lower price and allow consumers to decide which version they would like,” said Kilar . “I think it will definitely play a role in the US market.”
The company has not yet decided which markets will include an ad version.
Kilar also said that the HBO Max version, accepted for advertising, will actually be more profitable than the traditional subscription service.
“It will not be on the first day, give us probably four quarters, maybe eight quarters, to reach our scale when it comes to ad sales and placements and what not. But when we look at what the opportunity is – and I say this is based on marketers and how much your dollars put on the table – to be able to be part of this very easy advertising environment, where the effectiveness is quite high. .
What’s next for theater releases?
Kilar announced in December – to the despair and confusion of content creators and theater chains – that HBO Max will air Warner Brothers’ theatrical debuts on the same day they hit theaters.
This strategy was implemented precisely through the 18 theater launches that Warner Brothers had scheduled this year, Kilar told CNBC
“We are very happy with that decision. We feel very good about that strategy. I wish I could go back in time and that we were able to have, instead of a day or two of conversations before announcing that news, I wish we had a week or two. ” He acknowledged: “I think we could have done a better job in terms of those communications and those conversations with the story partners, the directors and the producers and their representatives.”
Kilar said that beyond 2021, the studio will take two different strategies for two different types of images.
“One of these will be the large-scale film and epic that you expected from us, which has an exclusive theatrical run. I think the run will be shorter than in the past. The world of DC and Harry Potter and things like that; great films, of epic scope, I think are worth it and will have an exclusive theatrical journey. But there will be other films, a large number of films that will go to HBO Max on the same day that the same films were made available to exhibitors and cinemas around the world. “
Between movies that debut exclusively in theaters and those that go straight to HBO Max, Kilar says they will invest more in producing movies for both formats.