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        <title><![CDATA[HBO Max mulls adding commercials to classic movies and select new shows]]></title>
        <atom:link href="https://usagag.com/2020/09/09/hbo-max-mulls-adding-commercials-to-classic-movies-and-select-new-shows/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
        <link>https://usagag.com/2020/09/09/hbo-max-mulls-adding-commercials-to-classic-movies-and-select-new-shows/</link>
        <lastBuildDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2020 17:22:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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            <media:title type="html">HBO Max mulls adding commercials to classic movies and select new shows</media:title>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>WarnerMedia&#8217;s new HBO Max streaming service is considering adding commercials to classic movies and some of its original content.</p><p>The company has circulated a marketing survey to consumers, explaining that an ad-supported version of HBO Max could potentially carry two to four minutes of advertising per hour, according to Variety. While ads won&#8217;t likely appear in any HBO original shows or new movies, the survey suggests ads may appear alongside content from WarnerMedia&#8217;s other TV networks.</p><p>This includes original shows from HBO Max, such as &#8220;Search Party,&#8221; starring Ali Shawkat or Anna Kendrick&#8217;s romantic comedy series &#8220;Love Life,&#8221;&nbsp; or older movies from Turner Classic Movies such as &#8220;The Wizard of Oz,&#8221; Stanley Kubrick&#8217;s &#8220;2001: Space Odyssey,&#8221; and &#8220;Grease.&#8221;</p><p>A rep from HBO Max declined to comment on the survey, but confirmed that the service will launch an ad-supported version in 2021.</p><p>The move comes as HBO Max, which includes original programming, as well as movies and TV shows from HBO, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network, is amid a <strong>leadership transition with former Hulu boss Jason Kilar</strong> taking the reins and shaking things up as the streamer&nbsp;struggles for meaningful subscriber growth.</p><p>In late July, WarnerMedia <strong>said HBO Max and HBO had a total of 36 million subscribers</strong>, but it declined to provide a breakdown. That&#8217;s in part because the bulk of the 36 million were already HBO subscribers, and they were given access to HBO Max when it <strong>launched on May 27</strong>, as the company began to merge the two services.</p><p>Still, on its face, that&#8217;s much less than the subscriber tallies of streaming titan Netflix, which logged 183 million customers in the second quarter, or newcomer Disney+, which launched last fall, and has over 60 million subscribers as of August.</p><p>Impeding HBO Max&#8217;s growth is the fact that it has yet to come to a distribution agreement with streaming platform giants, <strong>Amazon&#8217;s Fire TV and Roku</strong>. Another issue is <strong>HBO Max&#8217;s price tag of $14.99 a month</strong>, which makes it one of the most expensive services on the market. Disney+ costs $6.99 a month and Netflix costs between $8.99 and $15.99 a month depending on the plan.</p><p>The HBO Max&#8217;s survey suggested that the $14.99 a month price tag would be lowered for all of its subscribers regardless of whether it opted for the ad-free or ad-supported plan.</p><p>Media execs told Variety that enacting such a plan could prove difficult. HBO Max is already locked into &#8220;firm contracts&#8221; with both the cable and satellite operators that distribute its programming and many of the studios that supply it to keep its shows ad-free for a predetermined “window” of time.</p><p>That means advertisers on HBO Max will be barred from adding commercials&nbsp; for the time being with popular series like “Succession,” “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” or “&#8221;Big Little Lies” and will instead have to be content with HBO Max originals like “Ravi Patel&#8217;s Pursuit of Happiness” or the sitcom “<strong>Friends</strong>.”</p>]]></content:encoded>
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