Warner Bros Discovery has today confirmed the arrival of streaming platform Max in Australia. The news emanated from, of all places, a resort hotel in Bali.
Mediaweek first reported the likelihood of streaming service Max launching in Australia when we spoke with Michael Brooks, GM Australia & New Zealand and managing director, Warner Bros. International Production Australia.
Brooks told us in 2023 that Max could be here soonish, adding “there is no specific timeline for the market launch in Australia however it is not in our plans for 2024”.
That market advice was updated just today at the APOS Conference in Bali. Speaking to delegates from the entertainment industry all over Asia, Singapore-based James Gibbons, president APAC for Warner Bros Discovery, had some news about Max.
“We can confirm we’ll be launching our direct service in Australia in the first half of next year…that’s definitely happening. We have had a longstanding and really important relationship with Foxtel and I think the time has come for us to expand that into the DTC [direct to consumer] space.”
What will Max look like in Australia?
We know there will be plenty of big ticket content from across the major Warner Bros Discovery brands. Including HBO of course for content that might not already be tied up in a rights deal.
Speaking to Mediaweek 12 months ago, Brooks gave us some insights into how Max would operate here.
“If Max launches here, we will also be [making] a lot of content for Max. But we won’t be the only local production company making content for Max. It will be able to access the best of the best content available. For the service to work, it has to have access to the best content.”
Brooks also commented on how keen WBD would be to support a local content quota system.
“If we launch Max we will be connected to a large streaming service and we will look at that and how we can support local production. There needs to be some sort of system in place that is not too onerous.”
Would WBD JV with a local partner for Max?
While Gibbons has asserted it’s all systems go for a Max launch with the next nine months, there is plenty of detail yet to be resolved.
His comments suggested today the business might consider a partnership here.
Gibbons did single out Foxtel for being a great partner. Could WBD and Foxtel both take a stake in Max, or maybe WBD might engage Foxtel to manage the venture, without giving up equity?
Any JV could be complicated by the fact that Foxtel is currently looking for an offer to sell the TV business. Or perhaps that might help a partnership proposal.
One model that might work here is what happened with Max in Japan. The brand actually launched in Japan today, labelled as Max on U-Next. It is available as a branded environment, with its own user interface, within the Japanese streaming platform U-Next. Could something work like that with Foxtel?
In Japan, Max on U-Next offers over 16,000 episodes of over 2,500 titles from WBD’s entertainment brands, including HBO, Harry Potter, the DC universe, Warner Bros, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.
See also: Warner Bros. Discovery on local production plans and possible Max launch date