They are not the pioneers in the AVoD model: streaming with advertisements is a recurring reality in the US, opting for this format many of Benin Email Lists the services that the great traditional television have launched in their conversion to the new on-demand model.

However, HBO’s change does imply a milestone in the traditional model of pioneering streaming players. HBO was one of the first companies to launch its video-on-demand format, and it did so with an ad-free model (because ad-free was also its television). It was the model he used to set out to conquer the global market. The platform was free of ads and was betting on a somewhat more ‘cultural’ line of content.

In the war for audiences, however, and with increasing competition from different services, HBO went on to become HBO Max, first, and potentially open up to advertisements later. All this, of course, only happens for now in the US, although this model is expected to set the tone for the company’s global strategy.

HBO Max was where its owners, Warner, launched some of the great general public premieres that they had planned for recent months and that the coronavirus removed from the cinema. The platform seeks to reach a massive group of consumers (in fact, its latest signings in executives go in that direction). Now, HBO Max will also be the first of the big platforms in the video-on-demand market to move to ads.

The presentation of the new format was at the WarnerMedia upfront, the usual time when US TV giants present their next potential hits and try to convince advertisers. HBO Max with ads will arrive in the US market in the first week of June and will cost $ 9.99, about 8.18 euros (although the giants usually make an equivalent of one euro for one dollar when converting prices). Viewers will access all content, but they will do so with ads.

And while WarnerMedia promises that HBO Max will have “the lightest ad load of ad streamers,” one wonders if that price will be enough to capture viewers’ attention. First, the ad-free model isn’t much more expensive, coming out at $ 14.99. Second, the prices of the other AVoD services are lower. Hulu’s version with ads costs $ 5.99 a month even less if you pay for a full year at once