HBO Max Prepares to Launch in 15 More Countries in Europe
variety.comManori Ravindran International EditorHBO Max is continuing a steady roll-out in Europe with its second wave of countries.The WarnerMedia-owned streaming service is launching in an additional 15 nations on March 8, this time targeting Central and Eastern Europe.
This covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.Christina Sulebakk, general manager for HBO Max EMEA, says it has been a “cautious choice” to get the markets launched in Europe, where the HBO Max roll-out began in earnest in October with launches in the Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) as well as Spain and Andorra.
Those countries were obvious choices as the company had solid streaming customer bases that were already familiar with HBO Nordic and HBO España VOD services. “[We had to] make sure we could migrate over that customer base and get them on HBO Max first,” says Sulebakk.Similarly, HBO has been operating different brands (HBO Portugal and HBO Go) in Central and Eastern Europe, too, meaning it’s preparing for another migration to HBO Max.Asked about learnings from its early European launches, Sulebakk says the customer base has “highly engaged” with the service’s new user interface and branding, as well as the “extension of great content” from the studio and, in particular, the movies following a 45-day theatrical release.“That is something that’s been extraordinary for us to get on board,” says Sulebakk. “In the Nordic region, we only had library titles; we didn’t have second or first pay.
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