HBO, HBO Max exceed expectations to reach 73.8m subscribers in 2021

WarnerMedia-owned premium cablenet HBO and streamer HBO Max reached 73.8 million global subscribers by the end of 2021, beating the guidance the company issued earlier in the year.

Jason Kilar

WarnerMedia’s previous estimates had forecast the number of global subscriptions to be between 70 million and 73 million.

Jason Kilar, WarnerMedia’s CEO, said HBO and HBO Max experienced growth in all markets in 2021, attributing the better-than-expected subscriber numbers to new content, the expansion of HBO Max into new markets and enhancements to the product experience.

HBO Max launched in the US and Latin America in May 2020 before beginning its roll-out in Europe last October.

AT&T is in the midst of offloading WarnerMedia, with a merger with Discovery in the offing. This would see the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services brought together under an umbrella company led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav.