Clay Enos/DC Comics/Warner Bros.
- HBO was recently removed from Amazon's Channels program.
- HBO Max is offering a 50% discount to lure 5 million former HBO customers who subscribed through Channels.
- Max initially struggled to convert HBO customers into Max subscribers, which helps explain the deal.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
WarnerMedia's streaming service, HBO Max, is offering a steep discount to lure new subscribers, but particularly 5 million subscribers HBO recently lost.
HBO was removed on Wednesday as a subscription from Amazon's Channels program, in which users can subscribe to a platform through Amazon.
On Friday, Max announced that new customers can now subscribe to its ad-free plan for $7.49 per month for six months, a 50% discount. The offer goes through September 26.
WarnerMedia wants its subscribers to access Max directly through the app rather than through another party, which is why it's moving out of Amazon Channels.
"It's important for us to own the customer," the head of HBO Max, Andy Forssell, told Bloomberg last month. "If the viewer is in the app, we can tailor the home page to them. We can tailor what they show them next. We can respond to that in real time."
But it can be hard to move customers from platform to platform. Max initially struggled to convert existing HBO subscribers to Max, even though they would get more content at the same price. That could be an issue again now that 5 million HBO subscribers have lost their subscriptions.
Despite the challenges with moving customers between platforms, Max seems to have gained major traction in recent months.
HBO and Max had 67.5 million subscribers worldwide as of AT&T's Q2 earnings in July, 47 million of which were in the US. Max added a healthy 2.8 million subscribers during the quarter, ahead of forecasts and boosted by new Warner Bros. movies debuting on the service and in theaters simultaneously.
