Six months after HBO Max’s Australian debut, the real story is just beginning as the platform faces the task of converting early success and a high-value audience into lasting market share.
Following a star-studded launch, quality-over-quantity content strategy, the swift rebrand to HBO Max, plus a tightly focused ad-supported model, the stage is set for the future.
As competition intensifies in Australia’s crowded streaming landscape, Michael Brooks, Managing Director Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ, is clear about the challenge ahead, “We’re now positioning ourselves for that next stage of growth and momentum. It’s been a rocketing start,” he says.
New Roy Morgan data proves that that. It shows 851,000 Australians aged 14+ used HBO Max in its first full quarter, while awareness already tops 9.2 million. The audience is affluent and young, with 26.6% in the A/B socio-economic group, an average household income of $127,000, and over half under 40.
Clearly impressive, but how do you keep that momentum going?
“We definitely need to keep up the momentum, that’s very true,” he tells Mediaweek. “I think the teams executed an incredible launch across all areas, and it allowed us to bring a brand that was already known in this market, to the forefront, but we are now focused on what comes next.
“I think if you ask any consumer what matters when it comes to this it’s clear it’s content, and we know our teams in the US will keep driving those incredible titles through.
“This year, we’ve had some some huge hits, and we get the benefit of our amazing theatrical success,” he adds.
‘Mega-slate’
He points to highlights like Superman, the upcoming It: Welcome to Derry (the Stephen King–inspired series), and Task, closing out the current year.
Looking to 2026, he describes “a mega-slate,” including season two of the Emmy-winning The Pitt, new seasons of House of the Dragon and Euphoria, and a much-anticipated Big Bang Theory spin-off, Stuart Fails To Save The Universe, along with Dune: Prophecy and more to come.
The Pitt
By consistently delivering such high-quality content, HBO Max has built a high-value proposition that might signal a subscription price hike following the launch. Wouldn’t that be a logical step?
“No, no changes to pricing at this stage,” says Brooks thoughtfully. “I think pricing, and being sensitive to pricing, is always something we’ll monitor. We’re really confident with the pricing that we entered the market with.
“I’m never going to rule it out, but at this stage, we’re just focused on making making sure everyone’s enjoying the product.”
And locally produced content? Surely that’s an important piece of the strategy?
“Yes, I think local content plays a really important role, and we are absolutely focused on creating our own local originals,” says Brooks, who is passionate about producing high-quality drama.
But before producers start banging down his door with pitches, it isn’t imminent.
“Unsurprisingly, our local originals will be scripted-focused,” he says. “We’re working through the timing of it now. We’re not open for business, because I don’t want to waste producers’ time. But what I can say is those conversations are certainly underway.
“We’re looking at the slates over the next few years and seeing where those new titles could be slotting in.”
Partnerships and profitability
Partnerships were central to HBO Max’s Australian launch strategy, and that continues through the next phase.
Brooks says the streamer is “really concentrating on and spending a lot of time on” its Nine Entertainment partnership, which underpins the ad-supported tier.
“It’s early days,” he notes, “and what we’re looking at, at the moment, is how we work closely with them and make sure we’re able to monetise the over-performance of the service.
“That’s not easy when it’s a brand new service in market. But we’re watching it closely. Digital ad sales is a huge growth business. I think there’s a third of all subscribers in this country that are on an ad tier. So that’s a big market sector that we want to target.
“It’s something we’re really concentrating on and spending a lot of time on. A lot of my individual time is spent looking at our ad tier, or looking at our ad-sales process and working with the Nine team to enhance that.”
The thinking is similar on distribution. Brooks points to HBO Max’s long relationship with Foxtel as the reason for launching with a single bundle rather than a wider wholesale strategy: “That bundle is quite strategic for us. It allows us to continue to appeal and work with that Foxtel base, which is an important cohort.
“The reason for not rolling out a broader wholesale strategy at the start is because we were confident that the service was going to perform well at launch. That was the the overriding factor – we felt like we still had a partnership which gave us more reach and more scope, but we were also maximising the retail window.”
On September 4, HBO Max also announced it was available in Australia via Prime Video as an add-on subscription, offering titles from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, and more.
Top three player
So, in another 12 months, what does success look like to Brooks and his team? Where will HBO Max be sitting then?
“We want to be a top three player. We want to be in that top three,” he says without any hesitation.
“We can get there and we will get there. Is it going to be in the next 12 months? Well, we’ll wait and see. We’re certainly ambitious about that.
“If you look at other regions, we’ve got an HBO Max and Disney bundle in the US, which has been incredibly successful, right? That’s not something we’re looking to replicate in this market at this stage, but it’s not to say that we wouldn’t be looking at other partnerships and other conversations in this market to expand our reach.”
“There’s ways you can evolve things. And I also think that it’s a changing, shifting strategy that streamers weren’t open to doing before. We started streaming to get away from ads and commercials, and now it’s one of the biggest growth areas, so things fluctuate and I don’t think anything’s off the table.”
JB Perrette
When JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, arrived in Sydney for the platform’s launch, he openly said he wanted HBO Max in Australia to be profitable within three years.
Days later, James Gibbons, President of Warner Bros Discovery for the APAC region, echoed that ambition to Mediaweek. The question now is, how does Brooks feel about that target?
Unsurprisingly, he remains tight-lipped on specifics, but the tone is unashamedly and rightfully confident, “We set ambitious targets for HBO Max in Australia, and these first few months in market have exceeded our expectations,” he says.