Consumers who believe they are paying too much for streaming platforms each month may not like the latest comments from a media CEO who says his platform is underpriced.
What Happened: Media company Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) is one of the many companies in the sector that, along with owning television channels, also owns a streaming platform.
The company's HBO Max platform, which has changed names several times, could be the latest to raise prices soon based on recent comments from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
"The fact that this is quality – and that's true across our company, motion picture, TV production and streaming quality – we all think that gives us a chance to raise price," Zaslav said, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The comments from Zaslav came at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. Zaslav also said that there are "too many players in the market" when talking about television.
Zaslav's comments included criticism of other players in the sector and come as the company's channels face pressure from streaming rivals. Its own streaming platform also competes with the likes of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY).
The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO said HBO Max will be in "150 million homes" or more in 2026. The platform had 125.7 million subscribers globally in the second quarter.
"We think we're way underpriced."
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Why It's Important: Zaslav's comments about being underpriced and raising prices could be bad news for consumers and come as a surprise when compared to others.
Here are some of the current monthly streaming prices for ad-supported and ad-free plans:
- Netflix: $7.99 ad-supported, $17.99 ad-free
- Paramount+: $5.99 ad-supported, $11.99 ad-free
- Disney+: $6.99 ad-supported, $13.99 ad-free
- HBO Max: $9.99 ad-supported, $16.99 ad-free
HBO Max is the most expensive of the four for its ad-supported plan and the second most expensive for the ad-free plan, trailing only market leader Netflix.
Surveys done by Benzinga and others have shown that consumers believe they are paying too much for streaming and they would cancel plans if the costs get too high.
In March, a Deloitte survey found that the average household was spending $69 per month on streaming, up 13% year-over-year, with the average household having four streaming platform subscriptions.
In the survey, 47% of consumers said they pay too much for streaming, with 41% saying the content on platforms doesn't justify the costs. Additionally, 60% of consumers in the poll said they would cancel their plans if the price were increased by $5 or more per month.
What's Next: Warner Bros. Discovery is currently in the process of splitting into two companies, one that will house the company's Warner Bros. unit with film and TV studios, HBO and HBO Max run by Zaslav and one housing the company's Discovery segment with cable channels like Discovery, TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network and more.
Zaslav said he expects the company split to be completed in April 2026.
The Warner Bros. Discovery also hinted that password-sharing crackdowns could be ramped up in the future for HBO Max. The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO said the goal is to get people to "fall in love" with the content before pushing on password sharing.
"We're going to begin to push on that," Zaslav said.
WBD Price Action: Warner Bros. Discovery stock was up 29% to $16.17 on Thursday on a report that Paramount Skydance is exploring a bid for the company. The stock hit a new 52-week high of $17.24 earlier Thursday. Shares are up 52% year-to-date in 2025.
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