The entire streaming landscape was turned upside down just last month when Disney+ was finally made available to the public. The exclusive streaming service is the home of nearly all of Disney’s content, including the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, making it a must-have for a significant amount of consumers. However, some have raised concerns about the reach of Disney+, wondering if Disney’s goal to stay family friendly will wind up putting a ceiling on its consumer base. It basically all boils down to the idea that adults will want their content, in addition to stuff for their kids and younger siblings to watch. This is where HBO Max believes it has an advantage.
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During a Q&A at the UBS Global TMT conference in New York on Tuesday (per Variety), WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey was asked about the upcoming HBO Max streaming service and how it will compete with the existing offerings of Netflix and Disney+. According to Stankey, HBO Max is actually the better platform for families with varying interests.
“Disney+ is a good product. They’ve done a nice job,” Stankey said. He added, “Its strength as a product to satisfy other members of the family – it’s not that deep. Max is.” One of the main goals of HBO Max is “keeping all members of the family engaged.”
What Stankey means by that is HBO Max will have content for younger audiences, just as Disney+ does, as well as a mix of entertainment entire families can enjoy and projects focused solely on adults. “We’re making sure that there’s a good, stable offering for the late teens and twentysomething [users],” Stankey continued.
So the argument here isn’t that HBO Max will be the better service for families with young kids, but it will have a better balance of content for all members of a family, according to Stankey.
“It doesn’t quite pick up some of those (demographic) segments. Most of your young kids in households are not thinking about the next HBO show they’re going to watch — god help us,” he added.
“You’d be hard-pressed to suggest that Disney Plus is a replacement service for Netflix. Or you’d be hard-pressed to stay it’s a replacement service for Max,” Stankey continued. “They’re addressing different segments.”
Do you think HBO Max will be able to compete with Disney+ and Netflix? Will you try out the service when it launches next year? Let us know in the comments!
