Does House Of The Dragon Make A Max Subscription Worth It?

Ever since the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery bought out HBO (in April 2022), fans have wondered how the once-lauded network might change. From disrupting the landscape of prestige television to bringing cultural behemoths like "The Sopranos," "Game of Thrones," and "Sex and the City" to audiences everywhere, HBO had an unmatched legacy that has, unfortunately, faded since its acquisition/merger. To make matters worse, HBO's parent company is facing significant financial problems with a debt load of around $40 billion, and share prices declining over 30% in 2024.

Fans also faced a change in the network's streaming app, which was rebranded to Max in 2023 and now features a combination of HBO classics, Warner Bros. movies, and Discovery's reality television content. However, engagement with Max has been declining. Not only did Max lose an eye-watering 700,000 subscribers in its first several months post-rebrand, but Nielsen ratings show the app hasn't budged from its 1.2% of television use in over a year.

Perhaps the only significant Max offering since its rebrand has been "House of the Dragons," a prequel to the original "Game of Thrones," which began its much anticipated 2nd season on June 16. Yet, despite "HotD" being the only major offering from the streaming app, Max raised prices for its ad-free membership tier just ahead of the latest season's premiere with a new monthly price of $16.99 or $169.99 annually (note that subscriptions can easily cost you more than you realize). Given everything that seems to be going wrong, is a Max subscription still worth it?

While, to some, it might seem absurd to subscribe to an entire streaming app for a single show, the lack of other offerings currently on Max has made that a decision many consumers have had to make. Plus, the cultural following of "House of the Dragon" makes it difficult to avoid, and this pop-culture element is ultimately the deciding factor for many when it comes to subscribing to the Max streaming service (despite its lack of other new content). However, many are instead opting out. For instance, the Season 2 of "HotD" premiere was down 22% (with 7.8 million viewers) compared to its Season 1 premiere. While this still served as Max's largest streaming day so far, it was a far cry from the show's peak 10.2 million viewers in 2022.

Financially, one of the things that's separated "HotD" from its predecessor, "Game of Thrones," has been the network's out-of-the-gate budget. Each episode of Season 1 cost roughly $20 million, which was a significant increase from the roughly $6 million per-episode budget applied to the 1st season of "GoT." With that said, the show's 8th and final season averaged $15 million per episode, due in large part to the increased FX budget required. While this kind of financial outlay for a single show can make it a difficult sell for shareholders, viewership numbers will be key for Warner Bros. Discovery when it comes to continuing to pay for additional seasons. So far, despite the lack of subscriber growth, Warner Bros. Discovery reported $103 million in profits from Max in 2023.

Given the lack of new content, there's already the expectation that HBO will have a significant drop in its award show nominations. This is set to shake up the television awards season which has, for so many years, been dominated by HBO programming (experts predict HBO could finish third for nods by network, its lowest ranking since 1996). That being said, HBO does have a stronger content slate scheduled, with returning seasons of both "The White Lotus" and "Last of Us" scheduled to premiere in 2025. As for the rest of 2024, taking out "House of the Dragon," HBO's offerings are slim, with Batman-themed "The Penguin" and the prequel series "Dune: Prophecy" coming in the fall.

One more consideration for prospective Max subscribers centers on HBO's former content. For the first time in HBO's history, some of its most famous shows became available on other apps. Warner Bros. Discovery negotiated a licensing package with Netflix in 2023, which saw library HBO titles like "Insecure" and "Sex and the City" premiere on Netflix. Similarly, licensing agreements have also been made with Roku, Tubi, and Amazon Prime Video (is an Amazon Prime membership worth it?) for select HBO content. While this is great news for those who haven't had HBO access, or who have never seen some of HBO's most notable content, it does beg the question of why consumers would continue to pay for a Max subscription if they can access the same content on another existing app.