Sky content partnership driving strong HBO Max uptake in UK & Ireland, says Ampere

HBO Max has become the fastest streaming service to surpass one million subscribers in the UK and Ireland, according to data firm Ampere Analysis.

The Warner Bros Discovery-owned platform, which launched in the UK and Ireland on March 26, reached 1.5 million subscribers within five days of going live.

Those figures are based on scaled estimates of sign-ups and service activations from Ampere’s latest SVoD economics dataset.

UK pay TV broadcaster Sky is said to be central to those impressive early adoption stats, with 77% of HBO Max activations coming from households which already have subscriptions to Sky or its streaming service Now.

Historically, Sky held exclusive rights to HBO content and portions of Warner’s movie library in the UK and Ireland. While that deal has now ended it evolved into a new partnership, announced in February, which sees Sky offer customers an exclusive deal bringing together HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+ and Hayu into one single Sky TV subscription. HBO Max is also fully integrated into Now.

Ampere said Sky’s longer-term subs contracts – typically around 24 months – help reduce churn for partner services, while the incorporation of TNT Sports into HBO Max is attracting sign-ups, with major Premier League and Champions League fixtures streaming live in early April.

However, HBO Max’s long-awaited arrival in the UK and Ireland is coming at a cost to rival streamers, with 12% of new subscribers cancelling at least one other service in March prior to signing up. Disney+ (36%) and Prime Video (17%) account for the largest share of switching.

Ampere believes HBO Max is on track to reach its forecast of six million subs in the UK by the end of April.

Mayssa Jamil, senior analyst at Ampere, said: “HBO Max is experiencing strong early uptake, with most users adding it to their existing mix of streaming services rather than replacing other subscriptions. Switching activity remains relatively limited, suggesting this is largely incremental growth rather than substitution.

“At the same time, Sky’s bundling strategy is reinforcing its continued role as a key distribution partner and is serving as a template for how pay TV operators can stabilise their customer bases in an era of cord cutting.”