Yahoo Finance Warner Bros.' Max streaming service raises prices for ad-free plans
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced plans on Tuesday to raise the price of its ad-free plans on its streaming service, Max.
Effective immediately for new subscribers, the monthly ad-free plan will increase by $1 to $16.99 a month while the annual ad-free plan will rise by $20 to $169.99 yearly.
The ultimate ad-free tier, which allows four concurrent streams and 4K streaming options, will increase by $1 to $20.99 a month. The corresponding yearly plan will increase by $10 to $209.99 a year.
The ad-supported plan will remain the same at $9.99 a month.
The price hikes come just over a year after the company merged its HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services to create Max. The announcement also comes just ahead of the second season of Warner Bros.' blockbuster "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon," which is scheduled for release on June 16.
Streaming companies have been aggressively raising their prices in response to various profitability challenges — much to consumers' chagrin. Ad-free plans have become a primary target of these increases as platforms attempt to increase viewership and engagement on newly launched, ad-supported platforms.
Virtually all of the major streaming companies raised the cost of their respective services throughout the course of last year, a trend that has continued in 2024.
Comcast's (CMCSA) flagship streaming service, Peacock, recently announced price hikes that will come in July, just ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, after it upped prices for the first time last summer.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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