HBO Max now has a new lower-priced tier, supported by commercials. Called HBO Max With Ads, it’s the perfect way to experience the streaming service without making a large dent in your wallet.
Here is everything that is included with HBO Max With Ads, how you can subscribe, and how it will affect your viewing experience.
What Is HBO Max With Ads?
HBO Max With Ads is a tier for the movie and TV streaming service HBO Max. Simply put, it’s the same HBO Max experience, but supported by ads.
It’s an attempt by HBO to lower its pricing to compete with other streaming platforms that offer cheaper tiers. By doing so, HBO will include ads as part of your viewing experience. These ads will be placed throughout your favorite shows and movies. You’ll be able to see these ads while browsing through your content as well, just like you would with Amazon Prime.
In the future, HBO plans to show ads when a movie or show is paused. The ad will be removed as soon as you continue watching.
The platform’s parent company, WarnerMedia, has historically taken its subscriber viewing experience very seriously. It has continued this dedication and implemented the lightest ad loading times in the streaming industry with HBO Max With Ads.
This is in line with WarnerMedia’s decision to improve commercial ad loads in the TV space. It was the first to market with limited commercial interruptions on stations like TBS, TNT, and TruTV.
The new HBO tier will cost $9.99 a month. This is $5 cheaper than the standard tier, which costs $14.99 a month.
How to Sign Up for HBO Max With Ads
HBO Max With Ads is offered to existing customers using HBO Max, but it’s also an option for new customers who are signing up for the first time.
In order to sign up as an existing customer, log into HBO Max as you normally would and you’ll see a prompt for the new tier with ads. Opting in at this point will remove your current subscription and replace it with the lower tier.
If you are a new customer, you just have to head to the HBO Max website and click on the sign-up button. Once you create an account, you will be asked which tier of HBO Max you want to subscribe to.
Once you’ve subscribed to HBO Max with Ads, you’ll be able to enjoy all the same movies and shows that the regular Max offers. There is no difference in the content available—except for new movies.
Some movies will debut in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time, as part of the same-day movie premiers for HBO Max. These won’t be available to HBO Max With Ads subscribers. Once those same movies have left the theaters and released to streaming, any HBO Max subscriber will have access.
HBO Max With Ads: Positives and Negatives
There’s no denying a lower priced HBO Max tier has benefits for both the platform and potential subscribers.
HBO can benefit by taking away more pieces of the streaming pie from big name platforms like Hulu and Netflix. Adding a lower price tier will cause many people to consider trying out the service for the first time.
What parent company WarnerMedia might hope is that some of these first timers become recurring subscribers without realizing. This is where customers pay for several months without realizing they have a recurring subscription.
It could also hope that some of these first-time subscribers will upgrade into actual full-fledged HBO Max users. Subscribers will benefit because they can get all the same great HBO Max content at a lower price; experiencing the service with ads, before upgrading to the higher-priced tier to remove them.
Where potential issues arise is how the ads are integrated into the platform. Hulu specializes in TV content that is traditionally already watched with ads. HBO is going to have to figure out tasteful ways of adding ads to award-winning shows like The Sopranos or Game of Thrones.
HBO Max Is Cheaper With Ads
Exactly how HBO plans on integrating its ads with classic shows will be important to how it’s received among subscribers. At least subscribers will be paying less to see how it all plays out on their favorite shows and movies.