AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark Ages

Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by mr_tristan on Thursday March 14, 2019 @01:47PM (#19391602)

I noticed something similar. HBO seems to have a "premium" brand mostly because it led the pack with their content before streaming, but that was a while ago. Given that I'm 41 years old, I remember the early shows that set HBO apart. But I'm not sure this holds for the 20 year olds and younger right now.

It sure seems like HBO executives think they're a cut above, though: https://static1.businessinsider.com/att-ceo-compares-hbo-to-...

I'm just not sure they can justify their "premium" status with their price point. GoT's final season is nearly here, and after that, I'd be curious if cancellations start to happen.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by sharkweek on Thursday March 14, 2019 @01:56PM (#19391671)

>and after that, I'd be curious if cancellations start to happen.

100% going to happen in the worst way and they know it.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by bobthepanda on Thursday March 14, 2019 @01:53PM (#19391654)

The young people like Westworld. They may have duds, but their good exclusives are just that, good and exclusive.

So long as they have one above and beyond show every time they will be fine.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by maxsilver on Thursday March 14, 2019 @02:32PM (#19392021)

As a young person who likes Westworld, this is a great strategy for like 1 month a year. What are they going to do for the 15-ish months of downtime they have between seasons?

Right now they have a limited selection of high quality shows, just enough to keep people hooked for the next great one. If they switch to just pumping out lower-quality, higher-quantity stuff, I suspect people will just cancel -- everyone already has Netflix for that.

HBO seems to think it's the next "Netflix", but if they follow the strategy they've described so far, I suspect they'll be the next "CBS All Access".

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by dragonwriter on Thursday March 14, 2019 @02:48PM (#19392223)

> HBO seems to think it's the next "Netflix"

AT&T seems to think HBO can be HBO and also be Netflix; they're wrong, but it's not inevitable they’ll break the being HBO part irrecoverably before they realize that.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by tptacek on Thursday March 14, 2019 @02:09PM (#19391798)

Westworld's ratings are far south of even True Blood's. It's a good show. But it's not in many people's top tier.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by throwawaymath on Thursday March 14, 2019 @03:01PM (#19392377)

Eh what? Westworld is rated 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.8/10 on IMDB. True Blood is rated 69% and 7.9/10 on the same platforms, respectively.

Which ratings are you looking at?

EDIT: I also checked Metacritic. True Blood is rated 68 on average across seven seasons, meanwhile Westworld is rated 75 on average across two seasons. If you take the Metacritic rating peak of Westworld (Season 1) and the Metacritic rating peak of True Blood (Season 3), True Blood is only four points ahead.

Given the difference between the Metacritic score and the Rotten Tomatoes/IMDB scores, I'd be inclined to chalk it up to different audiences. But even on the preferential platform Westworld basically at parity with True Blood, not "far south" of it.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by tptacek on Thursday March 14, 2019 @03:33PM (#19392724)

Ratings, as in, how many people watch the show. Obviously, Westworld is a better show than True Blood. But HBO needs people to want to watch it. On the metric that matters, True Blood was a more important show for HBO, and Westworld did not make up for it.

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Re:AT&T Is Dragging HBO's Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark... by throwawaymath on Thursday March 14, 2019 @09:02PM (#19395494)

Ah, I see what you're saying.

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