WBD’s Max Sets Release Schedule in Asia

Warner Bros. Discovery Maximum The streaming service will be available in five markets in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the last quarter of this year, and in Australia in the first half of 2025. That launch will require multiple business models.

Max, a technologically advanced platform that combines content offerings from HBO and Discovery, is already available in North America and parts of Europe and Latin America, but is only slowly reaching the Asia-Pacific region.

BT It will be released in Japan on Wednesday Partnership established with local Japanese broadcaster U-Next.

“There will be a lot of announcements in the coming weeks and months,” said James Gibbons, president of APAC at Warner Bros. Discovery, speaking on the first day of the event. APOS Media and entertainment convention in Indonesia. “We will be flexible and diverse in how we do this. It will be a mix of direct service and partnership models. Our goal is to reach the fan base.”

This will require direct-to-consumer launches, app integration with partners, and deeper joint offerings with telcos, broadcasters or pay-TV platforms. The Max launch in Japan sees the full Max service offered to Japanese consumers as a branded region within leading local broadcaster U-Next. It will be offered to U-Next users at no additional cost.

In Southeast Asia (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), the Max service will essentially replace HBO Go, a lower-end legacy service with more limited content. In Australia, a direct-to-consumer model is set to launch in the first half of 2025.

Speaking at the APOS media and entertainment conference in Indonesia on Wednesday, Gibbons stressed the importance of a local content mix.

“We take Asian content very seriously, both from a Max perspective and from a studio perspective. (Max) needs to have an affinity for Asian content,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons described a two-pronged relationship with U-Next. “We have a deal where we can access Japanese content,” he said, hinting that there will be opportunities for U-Next to bring its Japanese content to global audiences beyond the Japanese broadcaster’s current reach.

Although HBO Asia is less active as a content commissioner compared to previous years, WBD maintains its producer position in the region. Expands as anime producer and localizer of group IP in Japan.