Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels has talked up Max, the studio’s revamped streaming service combining programming from both the original HBO Max streaming service and Discovery+ after it launched Tuesday.“It’s day one, but so far, so good,” the Warner Bros. Discovery finance chief told the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference during a session that was webcast. Max costs $15.99 a month ($149.99/year) for the ad-free version and $9.99 per month ($99.99/year) for the ad-supported tier.Wiedenfels pointed to early indications of faster downloads and better content discovery for Max as Warner Bros. Discovery looks for subscribers to get a better handle on the enormous amount of content available on the newly enlarged streaming platform, as opposed to a focus on a smaller slate of popular hits.“We’re really in the first innings where we launched the product and the basic thesis here is that we can get better engagement and a more satisfactory consumer experience with this combined portfolio,” Wiedenfels said.The Warner Bros. Discovery boss didn’t show his cards when it came to putting sports and other traditional content from linear TV networks onto Max as the industry wrestles with balancing its declining cable networks and emerging streaming services amid increasing cord-cutting. But Wiendenfels did say Max would respond to the continuing industry pivot to streaming, which in turn undercuts the traditional pay TV bundle.“I don’t think we need to be at the leading edge of disruption here, but we’re clearly monitoring what’s going on,” Wiedenfels said. The Max launch comes a year after WarnerMedia and Discovery completed its $43 billion merger, with the combined company led by CEO David Zaslav.Part of Zaslav’s pitch to Hollywood was the creation of a streaming service that could compete with Netflix and Disney+ by combining the best of HBO’s high-brow scripted fare with Discovery’s more low-brow but profitable lifestyle and reality programming.By removing HBO from Max’s branding, Warner Bros. Discovery has aimed at appealing to a wider audience that may have previously turned away from the streaming service due to HBO’s highbrow reputation and higher price point. Wiedenfels also talked about moves to bundle more streaming services together, while not venturing much on how that packaging may work.“Consumers would benefit from some form of rebundling… but I don’t think it’s an easy thing to pull off. And I certainly don’t expect anything to happen short term here,” he told the investors conference.On the movie side, Warner Bros. Discovery has looked to more theatrical releases for movie tentpoles, even as the film product is eventually headed to streaming platforms under the leadership of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group chairs Michael DeLuca and Pamela Abdy.“There’s a very clear mission now. We’re 100 percent committed to the theatrical model. What’s different is the theatrical window is not a fixed mold anymore. Every title has a different number of days in the theater. That’s the flexibility we didn’t have years ago,” Wiedenfels said.
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