HBO Max Sheds 1.8 Million Subscribers In The US After Leaving Amazon, But Grows Overall

HBO Max owner AT&T reported earnings on Thursday, and among the many developments was some new insight into the health of the HBO Max subscriber business.

HBO Max ended the quarter with 45.2 million members in the US, which is down 1.8 million from last quarter. The downturn was driven by HBO being removed from Amazon Prime, AT&T said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Globally, HBO and HBO Max subscriber numbers rose by 1.9 million to 69.4 million for the latest quarter. The growth was fueled by "strong international and ad-supported subscriber growth," AT&T said. The growth was enough to offset the losses in the US.

In the wake of HBO getting removed from Amazon Prime, HBO offered a very, very good deal to try to convince people to sign up.

Looking ahead, AT&T said it expects to reach the "higher end" of its target for HBO Max/HBO subscriber numbers--the target disclosed in July was 67-70 million. AT&T is bullish about growth because of numerous high-profile releases coming up, including Dune, The Matrix Resurrections, and the next season of Succession.

Looking further out, AT&T expects HBO Max/HBO to have between 120-150 million subscribers by the end of 2025. For comparison, Netflix--which is a much older service--just announced this week that it has 213 million paid subscribers.

HBO Max's next big release, Dune, releases today at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET. In other news, the network said it might produce a new Sopranos TV show or movie.