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Warner Bros. Discovery says the $9.99 per month ad-supported plan will have one of the ‘lightest’ ad loads in streaming.
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Warner Bros. Discovery’s new combined streaming app, Max, will keep the ads down to three to four minutes per hour. During the company’s Upfront event on Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery said that Max will feature one of the “lightest ad loads in streaming.”
“Max Ad-Lite subscribers get all the same content as ad-free subscribers,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during the event. “See only three or four minutes of ads per hour and pay just $9.99 a month.”
That puts the service on par with HBO Max, which currently offers four ads per hour on its ad-supported plan. In addition to sharing similar commercial break lengths, Max will also have the same $9.99 per month or $99 per year pricing for its “Ad-Lite” plan, with options for a $14.99 per month ad-free plan and a $19.99 per month 4K option.
To compare, both Netflix and Disney Plus already show around four minutes of ads per hour, while Peacock has a slightly longer five-minute cap. The ad-supported plans on Hulu and Paramount Plus, on the other hand, have longer and more frequent commercial breaks.
Warner Bros. Discovery also shared some information about what kind of ad spots it’s prepared to sell on the platform, and there aren’t many surprises here. Like other services, Max will show 15-second pre-roll ads that pop up before the content you select begins, 30- to 60-second mid-roll ads that play in the middle, as well as static ads that appear when you pause what you’re watching.
There will also be some cases where you may only see ads at the start of the content, with none in the middle, based on a brand paying to “reward” viewers with fewer ads.
Max officially arrives on May 23rd and will house content from both HBO Max and Discovery Plus. While Max will replace the HBO Max completely, Discovery Plus will still be available as a standalone app. Max will launch with a handful of original titles, such as What Am I Eating? With Zooey Deschanel, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Clone High, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. There’s a lot more content planned for June, including Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Avatar: The Way of Water, and more. You can view the upcoming slate of content here.