Max will be the destination for HBO Originals, Warner Bros. films, Max Originals, the DC universe, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, an expansive offering of kids content, and renowned programming across food, home, reality, lifestyle and documentaries from leading brands like HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, TLC, and ID. Warner Bros. Discovery is promising an average of 40+ new titles and seasons every month to keep the Max catalogue fresh.

“Max will offer an unrivalled range of choice,” declared JB Perrette, President & CEO, Global Streaming & Games at Warner Bros. Discovery. “This new brand signals an important change from two narrower products, HBO Max and discovery+, to our broader content offering and consumer proposition. While each product offered something for some people, Max will have a broad array of quality choices for everybody.”

Max will arrive with three pricing options:

• Max Ad-Lite at $9.99/month or $99.99/year, which comes with two concurrent streams, 1080p resolution and 5.1 surround sound quality, with advertising.
• Max Ad Free at $15.99/month or $149.99/year, which adds 30 offline downloads and removes the ads.
• Max Ultimate Ad Free at $19.99/month or $199.99/year, which is still ad-free and adds two additional concurrent streams, supports resolution up to 4K UHD, boosts offline downloads to 100 and provides Dolby Atmos sound quality.

Existing HBO Max subscribers will have access to Max at the same price as their HBO Max subscription, and will still have access to their current plan features for a minimum of six months following the launch of Max. HBO Max subscriber profiles, settings, watch history, ‘Continue Watching’, and ‘My List’ items will also migrate to Max.

Returning to the subject of content, Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, says: “The Max service is a wide-ranging mosaic of content that will be unmatched in the breadth, reach, and excellence of its offerings. We are unique because we have the best-in-all-categories across the board by any measure – be they ratings, awards, fandom. We know we can satisfy any craving because we have the brands that people love. At Max, they will find what they want, when they want it.”

Sessions will also explore programmatic TV and a new era of broadcast-like ad break management, as well as CTV as a linear experience and the impact of digital-first content discovery on planning decisions.

Notable speakers include Rita Ferro, President, Advertising Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, Disney, who will discuss the latest trends impacting brands and consumers, how Disney has reimagined its own organisational structure to meet the needs of modern advertisers, its latest efforts in data and measurement innovation, and its stance on streaming on the eve of the ad-supported launch of Disney+.

Jeremi Gorman, President, Worldwide Advertising, Netflix will talk with Dave Morgan, Chief Executive Officer, Simulmedia, about the potential reach for ads shown on Netflix, likely ad loads, format preferences and format innovation, how Netflix inventory will be made available to buyers and how it can be planned into campaigns that span other media owners (on streaming and broadcast linear).

Other fireside chats throughout the course of the conference will include Mike Shaw, Director of International Ad Sales, Roku, Kevin Arrix, Senior Vice President DISH Media, and Patrick Béhar –Chief Business Officer, UK & Ireland, Sky.

The ‘Total Video session’ on Day One of the event will feature Stephan Breneau, Global Head of Product Solutions at Wavemaker, who will explore how AI and ML makes it possible to optimise reach across overlapping audience segments – improving reach for each segment without diminishing reach for the others.

The session will also include a panel with Stéphane Coruble, CEO of RTL Ad Alliance, Vicky Fox, Chief Planning Officer of OMD UK, Paul Evans, Consultant CMO and Growth Advisor (and ex Global Head of Media at Vodafone), Martyn Bentley, Commercial Director, UK Audience Project, Pieter Vervoot, VP of Entertainment Products, Liberty Global, and Graeme Lynch, VP Demand, EMEA Magnite.

The panelists will explore reach and planning as major SVODs introduce ad-funded tiers, the impact of digital-first content discovery, what each ‘channel’ adds to a cross-platform campaign, how to maximise incremental reach and guarantee rapid reach-build as viewing fragments, and overcoming barriers to holistic planning. Kantar and Samsung Ads will also deliver presentations during this session.

In the ‘Growth through targeting session’ on Day Two, Lara Izlan, Director of Data Strategy, ITV and Hannah Barlow, Deputy Controller, Advanced Advertising, ITV, will explain how to build a more joined-up approach to data – connecting viewer touchpoints across content, marketing, product and advertising.

The session will also feature a panel including Laura Chaibi, Director, International Ad Marketing and Insights, Roku, Jayesh Rajdev, Controller of Advanced Advertising, ITV, Adam Lowy, Chief Convergence Officer, Synamedia, Steve Pareira, UK President, Captify. The panelists will investigate winning tactics when using addressable TV to drive incremental reach, how to increase the accuracy of television-based targeting, how brands without D2C relationships maintain targeting rigour in the privacy-first era, and the value of contextual targeting as a substitute for audience-based targeting where privacy permissions are not present.

The event will take place over December 6-7^th. You can register here to attend.

Over the last quarter, Disney+ garnered an additional 14.4 million customers and the company forecasts it will have between 215 million and 245 million total Disney+ subscribers by September 2024. This represents a decline from its previous forecast of between 230 million to 260 million.

Reuters reports that Disney’s shares rose by 6.9% in after-hours trading to $120.15 last after the release of the quarterly report. While the company’s D2C revenues for the quarter increased 19% to reach $5.1B, its operating loss also increased from $0.8B to $1.1B. According to the company, the increase in operating loss was due to a higher loss at Disney+, reflecting “higher programming, production, technology and marketing costs.” Disney also attributes the higher operating loss to lower operating income at Hulu and (to a lesser extent) a higher loss at ESPN+.

Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company, said: “We had an excellent quarter, with our world-class creative and business teams powering outstanding performance at our domestic theme parks, big increases in live-sports viewership, and significant subscriber growth at our streaming services. With 14.4 million Disney+ subscribers added in the fiscal third quarter, we now have 221 million total subscriptions across our streaming offerings.

“We continue to transform entertainment as we near our second century, with compelling new storytelling across our many platforms and unique immersive physical experiences that exceed guest expectations, all of which are reflected in our strong operating results this quarter.”

The company also announced a $3 price increase for the ad-free tier of Disney+, which will cost $10.99 per month from December, when it rolls out its ad-supported tier in the U.S. for the current price.

Disney also revealed a slate of subscription plans for the Disney Bundle, which includes Hulu and ESPN+. Customers opting for the ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu bundle, will pay $9.99 per month; the inclusion of the ad-supported ESPN+ service into the bundle raises the price to $13.99. For existing customers, the ad-free bundle of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ services, will cost $14.99 per month, while new customers will pay $19.99.

Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, said: “With our new ad-supported Disney+ offering and an expanded lineup of plans across our entire streaming portfolio, we will be providing greater consumer choice at a variety of price points to cater to the diverse needs of our viewers and appeal to an even broader audience.

“Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ feature unparalleled content and viewing experiences and offer the best value in streaming today, with over 100,000 movie titles, TV episodes, original shows, sports and live events collectively.”

Independent research boutique MoffetNathanson predicts that, in 2025, 70% of Disney+’s forecast 53 million U.S. subscribers will be on an ad-supported tier.

The streaming service offers titles from across Disney’s brands, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and general entertainment brand Star (with content from 20th Century Studios, Disney Television Studios, FX, Searchlight Pictures, and more.)

Subscribed Foxtel customers will have access to a range of drama, action and reality content, including shows such as Only Murder in the Building, The Kardashians, FX’s The Old Man and Grey’s Anatomy. Other popular titles on Disney+ include Encanto, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lightyear, and Marvel Studio’s Moon Knight.

Amanda Laing, Chief Content and Commercial Officer, Foxtel Group, said: “We’re committed to delivering the ultimate destination for entertainment and streaming, all in one place and so we’re thrilled to be adding to our apps with Disney+, the home of much-loved and globally recognised entertainment brands.

“Through the Disney+ app integration, Foxtel subscribers can access their Disney+ subscription to the deep and rich catalogue of Disney+ content spanning the fantastical worlds of popular family movies and TV shows, to hugely popular, addictive, and gripping dramas, comedies, reality and more for adult audiences.”

Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand, commented: “We’re excited to add Disney+ on Foxtel iQ devices which makes a Disney+ subscription seamlessly accessible on this platform.

“This innovation means Foxtel customers can conveniently expand their viewing experience to enjoy our world’s-best entertainment and content for all ages, with an ever-growing catalogue, exciting new releases, exclusive original content, and more on Disney+.”

The agreement will enable a “first-of-its-kind” integration between Disney’s proprietary Audience Graph and the open-source identity framework, Unified ID 2.0, within a secure environment. The companies say this will allow buyers to discover more addressable and biddable inventory across Disney’s portfolio, giving them more flexibility, choice and control

Disney and The Trade Desk also believe that the move sets the stage for better measurement, giving advertisers a path to leverage their first-party data in biddable environments. This becomes increasingly important “as the industry faces new disruption caused by the deprecation of third-party cookies” according to the companies.

Rita Ferro, President of Advertising Sales, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, said: “Disney Advertising had a bold vision backed by proven results from the start, and we’re thrilled to continue to deliver on our commitment to power greater automation and addressability for our customers through this expanded deal with The Trade Desk.

“We have spent years investing in our data and technology strategy to create innovative solutions for advertisers to engage their audiences with greater precision and accuracy in a privacy-focused way. This first-to-market capability sets the stage to empower access to the Disney portfolio, validated by powerful audience insights, in a way that’s automated and accessible.”

Tim Sims, Chief Revenue Officer, The Trade Desk, commented: “With this agreement, Disney and The Trade Desk are pioneering a new approach to audience addressability in a post-cookie environment.

By creating interoperability between Unified ID 2.0 and Disney’s Audience Graph, we are unlocking the opportunity for our customers to activate their first-party data at scale programmatically, against some of the world’s most premium content, across all channels. As a result, advertisers will be able to deliver relevant advertising, while ensuring consumers have more control of their own privacy.”

After AppleTV+ and Paramount+, Netflix was the most commonly chosen service among SVOD switchers, with almost 10% subscribing to the streamer. The least popular choices for SVOD switchers were Hulu (7%) and Amazon Prime Video (just over 6%).

The research also outlines which competitor is most likely to take direct spend from each streaming service and how customers’ existing subscriptions impact the direction in which they jump to other services.

According to Ampere Analysis, users leaving Netflix are most likely to subscribe to AppleTV+. The company notes that these switchers are “less adventurous in trying new services than switchers from other streaming services: they currently have the lowest number of streaming services among leavers from any of the major platforms.”

Those switching from Disney+ are most likely to subscribe to its sister service – Hulu – within 60 days, and conversely, those switching from Hulu are most likely to subscribe to Disney+. Similarly, while Paramount+ churners tend to choose AppleTV+ and Netflix as their next SVOD choices (in that order), their third most common pick is Showtime, which is also owned by Paramount.

Ampere Analysis believes this reflects the benefits that providers of a family of services enjoy as a result of the bundling effect, in terms of cross-promotion, greater ARPU opportunities and customer retention.

Both AppleTV+ and HBO Max churners are more likely to move their subscription to Paramount+ over other services.

The data and analytics company also revealed that around 30% of streaming subscribers switch services in any given two-month period, with 56% of churners choosing not to re-subscribe or sign up to a different service within 60 days. On average, 14% of users leaving a service re-subscribe to the same service within two months (a pattern Ampere Analysis calls ‘the boomerang effect’) therefore reducing effective churn.

Breaking the boomerang effect down by SVOD, Netflix unsubscribers are the most likely to return, with 23% re-subscribing within 60 days. The return rate for both HBO Max and Paramount+ is 15%. 11% of Disney+ and Hulu churners re-subscribe, as well as 10% of AppleTV+ leavers.

Ben French, Analyst at Ampere Analysis and author of the report, said: “Switchers are experimenting with different platform mixes within the home, moving spend to some of the newer and less penetrated services while maintaining a core base of services. It’s some of these newer, smaller services that the incumbent streamers most need to keep an eye on.”

HBO Max saw a small increase in subscriber satisfaction levels of 2% from the previous year’s survey results. Other SVODs which ranked highly in terms of subscriber satisfaction include Disney+ and Hulu, with 88% and 87% of users expressing satisfaction with the services, respectively. Netflix also enjoyed high levels of satisfaction with 80% of users satisfied, however this figure represents a ten percentage point drop from the previous year.

79% of Paramount+ subscribers expressed satisfaction with the service, up from 75% in the previous year. Apple TV+ enjoyed the largest rise in satisfaction levels this year, increasing from 62% in 2021 to 76% and overtaking three other services. At the lower end of the ranking, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+, and Peacock experienced satisfaction levels of 72%, 72%, and 68% respectively (although this represents a significant improvement for Peacock over the previous year, in which only 62% of subscribers reported satisfaction with the service.)

HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney also topped the ranking in terms of services subscribers said they are likely or very likely to keep their subscription for, with 91%, 88%, and 87% of subscribers affirming that view, respectively. Amazon Prime Video subscribers were also among the least likely to unsubscribe, with 86% saying they would keep their subscription. However, Whip Media notes that “given their lower satisfaction scores, this likely has much to do with other benefits of Prime membership.”

While 81% of Netflix subscribers affirmed the likelihood of keeping their subscription, this represents a dramatic 12% fall from the previous year – the largest decline for any service. 75% of Paramount+ subscribers, as well as 69% and 67% of Discovery+ and Peacock subscribers respectively, said they are likely to keep their subscriptions. While only 54% of Apple TV subscribers expressed they are likely keep their subscription in 2021, this figure jumped to 73% this year – again, the largest increase for any SVOD service.

According to Whip Media, Netflix “continues to be the service that a plurality of consumers view as indispensable.” When asked which service they would keep if they could only pick one, 31% of Netflix subscribers chose the service. While this represents the highest proportion of subscribers among any major SVOD, it also reflects a ten percentage point decline for Netflix from the previous year. In second place, 19% of HBO Max subscribers chose it, picking up six out of the ten percentage points Netflix lost from the previous year.

17% and 14% of Hulu and Disney+ subscribers chose those services respectively, however Whip Media notes that “among respondents with children, Disney+ goes up to 18% on this question, moving it into second place.” Only 6% of Amazon Prime Video subscribers said they would choose the SVOD if they could only keep one, with no other services chosen by more than 3% of respondents in this category.

The survey suggests that Netflix is still experiencing large degrees of satisfaction in terms of its user experience and program recommendations, with 88% of subscribers saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with the former, and 71% with the latter. 82% of Disney+ subscribers expressed satisfaction with the service’s user experience, and 62% expressed satisfaction with its program recommendations. At the lower end of the ranking, Amazon Prime Video had a satisfaction rate of 62% for its user experience and 48% for its program recommendations. Whip Media remarks that it is “somewhat surprising that Amazon, the most experienced streamer after Netflix, ranks near the bottom on both of these aspects.”

The research company elaborates: “Given their data-driven focus, one might expect their recommendation engine would rank higher than most. It stands to reason that, given their large amount of content, their satisfaction scores could increase with some improvement in this area.”

Discovery+ and Peacock also experienced low levels of satisfaction with their user experience and program recommendations: 64% and 58% respectively for Discovery+, and 61% and 44% respectively for Peacock.

In terms of the level of value subscribers feel the services provide – which represents a relationship between quality of content and price – 85% and 83% of HBO Max and Disney+ subscribers respectively, are either satisfied or very satisfied. 79% of Hulu subscribers and 69% of Paramount+ subscribers expressed satisfaction with the value of their respective services. Interestingly, Netflix ranked bottom of the list with regards to perceived value, with only 62% of the SVOD’s subscribers saying they were satisfied. A full 20% of Netflix subscribers said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the service’s value – eight percentage points higher than the closest service (Apple TV+) and 16 percentage points higher than HBO Max.

Whip Media comments: “The contrast in perceived value between HBO Max and Netflix is perhaps the most important finding of this research. These services are similarly priced, (per month, Netflix standard service is $15.49, HBO Max ad-free is $14.99) and yet HBO Max is considered the most satisfying value of all the services we surveyed and Netflix was lowest.”

The research company also asked consumers who had unsubscribed from a service why they had done so, allowing respondents to choose multiple options. For users who had cancelled their Netflix subscription, 69% had done so because of an increase in the subscription price, with 55% saying they had felt they were not getting enough value from the service. 29% of unsubscribers left the service because its library programming did not interest them, with a further 28% uninterested in the streamers’ originals. 22% said they had seen all the content that interested them, and only 7% had unsubscribed because they felt Netflix’s user experience was unpleasant.

For HBO Max unsubscribers, the largest factor behind users decision to unsubscribe was the belief they were not receiving enough value from the service, however, in contrast to Netflix, a very significant portion of unsubscribers (43%) felt they had already watched all the programming they were interested in. Only 9% of previous HBO Max users had cancelled their subscription because they felt the company’s originals did not interest them. While HBO Max ended its policy of premiering movies on the streaming service at the same time as they premier in cinemas, only 14% cited this as a factor in their decision to unsubscribe.

Disney+ subscribers will have access to titles including Encanto, Turning Red, Hawkeye, Moon Knight and Star Wars series such as The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The content offering also includes original Latin American productions Intertwined and Siempre Fui Yo, with more original local shows planned by the studio.

Starzplay includes Spanish language original series such as Señorita 89 and the sci-fi thriller El Refugio, as well as hit franchises such as Twilight and The Hunger Games. In addition to live sports from ESPN, Star+ includes popular comedy series such as The Simpsons, Futurama, and Family Guy, and movie titles such as The Kingsman and The Valet. Latin American original productions on the streamer include No fue mi culpa: Mexico, Los Protectores, and Terapia Alternativa.

Disney+ will also be included in Polsat Plus’s IPTV offering in four different packages – S, M, M Sport and L at PLN35 ($7.80), PLN 45 ($10), PLN 70 ($15) and PLN 70 ($15) per month respectively. Polsat Box Go Premium – the company’s Mobile TV offering – will integrate tje service at a price of PLN 50 ($11) per month, providing users with the streaming service alongside over 100 channels and on-demand services.

Netia subscribers – a subsidiary of Polsat Plus Group –  have access to Disney+ at no extra charge for two years if they have three subscriptions for the company’s broadband, TV and mobile packages, and will pay PLN28.99 ($6.50) after that period has elapsed.