HBO Max Raising Prices For All Subscription Plans

HBO Max is joining the price inflation wave sweeping through the streaming business, hiking the cost of its ad-supported and ad-free plans.

Basic with Ads is going up $1 a month to $10.99. The Standard plan is rising $1.50 to $18.49, and Premium is going up $2 to $22.99.

The new prices are effective immediately for new subscriptions. Existing monthly subscribers will be notified 30 days in advance of their plan renewing, with the higher prices starting from their next billing date on or after November 20.

Compared with the direct-to-consumer streaming boom of 2019 and 2020, when a handful of major new players entered the market to challenge Netflix, prices have jumped sharply. Disney’s initial strategy was to wow consumers with a low price point on Disney+, which launched at $7 a month. Apple, similarly, came in a dollar cheaper than that. In the intervening years, as the difficulty of streaming became fully apparent, especially for legacy media companies managing linear TV’s decline, the calculus changed. Prices across the board have risen, with many services at or approaching double their initial cost.