In an SEC filing, AT&T disclosed that HBO Max and HBO had a combined 73.8 million global subscribers as of the end of 2021. The company added 4.4 million global subscribers in the fourth quarter and nearly 12.8 million in 2021. With the growth the company says they were “ahead of management’s prior guidance that end-of-year subscribers would be at the high end of its 70 million to 73 million subscriber target.”
In comparison, Netflix has 213 million subscribers globally, while Disney+ had 118 million subscribers as of early October. HBO Max, however, has a ARPU of $11.82, which is in-line with Netflix, but more than double the others.
The HBO Max said that December 2021 was the the streamer’s most-viewed month since its launch in May 2020 in terms of hours viewed.
While the company didn’t unveil U.S. subscribers as part of the release, they are coming off of a Q3 where they they lost nearly 2 million subscribers, after cutting times with HBO cut ties with Amazon Prime Video in September. Prior to the loss of Amazon, Andy Forssel, chief of HBO Max, said he wasn’t worried about the impact. Forssel said that HBO's goal of 70 million subscribers by the end of the year remains achievable.
Earlier this year, HBO Max launched its service in 39 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In October, they had their European launch in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain, and Andorra.
The fourth quarter slate provided a boon for HBO Max. In the quarter, HBO Max had the same day releases of “The Many Saints of Newark,” “Dune”, “King Richard”, and “The Matrix”, as well as the newest seasons of “Succession”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Insecure.” They also debuted new series “And Just Like That…” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls.”