HBO Max and Discovery Plus Merging to One Platform
HBO Max and Discovery Plus plan to combine their separate streaming services into one in the coming months. With nearly 100 million global subscribers combined, this brings the potential for a larger viewership and increased advertising opportunities. The platform will incorporate both ad-free and ad-lite products once launched. However, since this rollout will take some time, they plan to introduce some form of bundling with the two services as soon as the merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia is official early in the second quarter. This move has been something advertisers have eagerly awaited as it signals a significant shift in the industry away from increasing fragmentation and an ever-growing number of platforms.
