HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge into one platform

name unknown This new platform will be marketed, combining two services available from the start, spawning with a worldwide user base of more than 90 million.

Launched two years ago with the goal of becoming the main competition for Netflix and Disney+, HBO Max currently has 76.8 million users in the US, Europe and Latin America.

Discovery+, for its own sake around 24 million subscribersmainly in the United States.

The new service will consolidate the catalogs of WarnerMedia and Discovery, which began the merger process this spring, making it the second-largest media group in North America after only The Walt Disney Company.

Thus, the new holding owns such popular brands as HBO, CNN, Warner Bros., Eurosport and DC Comics, which will integrate the programming of the new platform.

“At the end of the day, putting all the content together was the only way to keep it afloat”During a conversation with investors, he announced JB Perrete, head of streaming strategy.

The unity of both services comes at once streaming market begins to show the first signs of satiety.

Netflix accumulates customer losses for two quarters; The CNN+ platform shut down its service a month after its launch, and other bets like Apple TV+ are not finishing the take off, despite millionaire investments.

In this context, Zaslav suggested that his group is already working on the idea of ​​offering a cheaper, even free, subscription in exchange for ads that Netflix will implement next year.

The setbacks faced by the platforms have caused Hollywood studios to change the strategy they started during the pandemic and return to betting on private theatrical releases to make movies profitable.

That same week, the factory decided to cancel the premiere of “Batgirl,” a movie intended to be released by HBO Max, after investing $90 million in its shooting.

“Our strategy has changed over the past year and reflects the importance of flow, not its dependence”Zaslav assured.