With a market with too much competition and signs of saturation among users, the only solution could be mergers.
HBO Max has become Maxas the fruit of Warner and Discovery merger. Mark the path of what can be the future of streaming: platform mergers, advertising plans and free platforms with ads.
A few months ago the current CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, made some prophetic declarations. In mid-2022 Iger had ceased to be CEO of the mouse company, after 15 years in office. Although just a few months later he would return to his position.
The fact is that, with the freedom of having “retired”, Bog Iger spoke about the future of streaming: “maintaining a streaming platform requires a lot of money. They have something complicated on their hands, and it takes a lot of capital to be in that business. I don’t think they all make it“.
merge or die
Iger predicted that companies like HBO Max, Paramount +, Peacock, and even Hulu, only had two options: merge, or disappear. Barely a year later, his prediction has come true.
Peacock has merged with Paramount, ShowTime, Universal, Sky and a few others, and in Europe it’s called SkyShowtime. Warner has done it with Discovery, to launch Max, and Disney itself has announced that it will merge Disney+ and Hulu. And something tells us that they will not be the last.
To this prediction by Bob Iger, we add two more. The current trend is add an ad plan to the offer. It’s not clear that it works, but Netflix and Max already have it, and Disney has announced it. It is inevitable that the rest will do the same.
Finally, almost every platform will have a free channel with ads, a la Pluto TVwhere to broadcast their oldest series, or the first seasons of their successes.
These are decisions that, in some casesgo against the interests of users who pay their fee. But with the accounts in losses, you have to look for solutions.
For his part, the switch from HBO Max to Max is not a revolution. There is more content, more broadcasts in 4K, and the ad-supported plan. But little more. He will arrive in Spain in 2024. It will be interesting to see who will move next.
