HBO Max stakes out a better position in the Streaming Wars as it finally comes to Amazon devices, which puts it in front of a lot more eyeballs.
So far as the Streaming Wars go, WarnerMedia’s service HBO Max has been doing…okay. In a new earnings report, the company said that 28.7 million customers now have access to HBO Max, which isn’t bad. But the catch is that a lot of those people are getting the service free and don’t even know it; less than half of that number are actually using it, which isn’t great.
With services like Quibi officially dying off, it’s important to stake territory in the streaming wars. This new announcement could help: as of tomorrow, November 17, HBO Max will be available on Amazon Fire TV streaming devices, Fire TV Edition smart TVs, and Fire tablets. Amazon and Ruko control nearly 70% of the streaming market, so this is a pretty big deal that stands to get HBO Max into tens of millions of more homes.
“We are very excited that Amazon customers will now be able to enjoy the best-in-class content that lives within HBO Max,” said Tony Goncalves, Head of Sales and Distribution for WarnerMedia. “Our continued goal is to make HBO Max and its unparalleled content available to customers across all the devices they love. Fire TV is a favorite among customers and we look forward to working with the Amazon team to engage and grow our existing subscriber base by showcasing all that HBO Max has to offer.”
The Amazon people were pretty excited about the development, too. “We’ve worked closely with HBO for many years to bring their great content to Fire TV and to make it easier to discover and enjoy with features like search integration, Alexa and personalized recommendations,” said Marc Whitten, Vice President of Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services, “We are excited to continue that partnership with the launch of HBO Max to bring even more incredible content to customers on Fire TV.”
HBO Max will also be integrated into Alexa. “Alexa, play Raised by Wolves,” you might say, and then you’ll watch Ridley Scott’s new sci-fi drama. If you’re already subscribed to HBO through Amazon Prime Video, you’ll be able to log into HBO Max with your Amazon credentials at no additional cost. Meanwhile, the HBO app on Fire TV and Fire tablets will automatically update to become the HBO Max app; you can log in using their existing HBO credentials. New customers can also subscribe to HBO Max directly in the app. Finally, all existing HBO Max customers – regardless of how they subscribe to the platform – can now access all of HBO Max via supported Fire TV and Fire tablet devices using their existing provider credentials.
So this is good news for WarnerMedia. What HBO Max needs now is a big original hit. Sure, there’s plenty of stuff to watch on the service — including all of HBO’s back catalog, which includes everything from Sex and the City to Game of Thrones — but HBO Max has yet to find a series that makes waves in the same way as, say, The Mandalorian has for Disney+, or The Boys has for Amazon Prime Video. And of course Netflix has hits coming out of its ears.
At least now, when that hit happens, more people will be in a position to watch.
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