HBO Max subscriptions are getting up to 10 percent more expensive, owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) revealed today.
HBO Max’s ad plan is going from $10 per month to $11/month. The ad-free plan is going from $17/month to $18.49/month. And the premium ad-free plan (which adds 4K support, Dolby Atmos, and the ability to download more content) is increasing from $21 to $23.
Meanwhile, prices for HBO Max’s annual plans are increasing from $100 to $110 with ads, $170 to $185 without ads, and $210 to $230 for the premium tier.
For current subscribers, the price hikes won’t take effect until November 20, Variety reported. People who try to subscribe to the streaming service from here on out will have to pay the new prices immediately.
Price hike hints
The price hikes follow comments from WBD CEO David Zaslav last month that WBD’s flagship streaming service was “way underpriced.” Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Cornucopia + Technology conference, Zaslav’s reasoning stemmed from the service’s “quality,” as well as people previously spending “on average, $55 for content 10 years ago.”
Another hint that HBO Max would be getting more expensive is its history of getting more expensive. The service most recently raised subscription fees in June 2024, when it made its ad-free plans more expensive. HBO Max’s first price hike was in January 2023. The service launched in May 2020.
HBO Max is getting more expensive as streaming companies grapple with the financial realities of making robust, diverse libraries of classic, new, and exclusive shows and movies available globally and on-demand. HBO Max rivals Disney+, Apple TV, and Peacock have all raised prices since the summer.
For years, WBD has been arguing that streaming services are too cheap. At a Citibank conference in 2023, WBD CFO Gunnar Weidenfels said that collapsing seven media distribution windows into one “and selling it at the lowest possible price doesn’t sound like a very smart strategy.
“I think there was this partly capital market-fueled phase of land grabbing, and you couldn’t lose enough money and couldn’t grow subscribers fast enough. I think that’s behind us,” Weidenfels added.
Additionally, the race for the most subscribers has subsided as streaming services are now largely prioritizing reaching or growing profitability.
For its part, WBD’s streaming business, which also includes the Discovery+ streaming service, reported a profit of $293 million in its fiscal Q2 2025 earnings report shared in August, compared to a loss of $107 million a year prior. WBD’s total number of streaming subscribers grew by 3.4 million to 125.7 million that quarter.
WBD for sale
The price hikes also appear largely tied to WBD’s efforts to sell some, or all, of itself. WBD announced today that it is reviewing “strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, in light of unsolicited interest” that it “has received from multiple parties for both the entire company and Warner Bros.”
This means an acquisition could supplant WBD’s earlier stated plans to split into a declining, indebted cable TV company and a streaming and movie studios company by mid-2026. The company said that it remains open to pursuing that strategy but could also sell all or part of the company.
With that in mind, now’s a good time for WBD to make its properties appear as valuable and lucrative as possible. Charging more for its most popular streaming offering is one obvious way to attempt to drive the value of its business.
Numerous companies have been reported to be interested in a WBD acquisition. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that WBD declined an offer for “around $20 per share” from Paramount Skydance. The publication cited anonymous “people familiar with the matter” and said the offer was rejected because it was “too low.” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters recently showed skepticism around media mergers—saying that “they don’t have an amazing track record”—when asked about whether Netflix could potentially scoop up some or all of WBD. Still, CNBC’s David Faber reported last week that Netflix and Comcast are interested.
WBD’s newly stated interest in potentially selling off its more valuable streaming and studios business will likely draw in more potential buyers.
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