David Zaslav Says People Are So in Love with HBO’s Content They’ll Embrace Price Increases

It’s an interesting theory. People DO fall in love with fandoms every day and end up spending A LOT of money on them. But the question of whether people fall in love with streaming channels is a bit of a different one. At least… fall in love with them enough not to mind the cost of streaming going up. Price increases have become a necessary evil of our consumption these days. It feels like every day, another platform is increasing its subscription prices. In most cases, these price increases are treated with a groan and a tolerating sigh at best. But there’s something almost poetic about the picture that David Zaslav is painting of HBO Max’s consumers and their reactions to potential price hikes on the platform. It’s a romantic vision. But is it realistic? We feel, probably not.

Here’s what David Zaslav had to say about HBO Max, its subscribers, and price increases on the platform:

People are really starting to love HBO Max. That’s the key. We want them to fall in love with our content, with our series, with the differentiated offering outside the U.S. and then over time, it’s a little tricky, with the password sharing, we’re going to begin to push on that. And I think our ability to raise price as people become more and more in love with the quality that we have and the series that we have and the offering that we have will have a real ability because I think the pricing across the board — not only is there too many players, in order to stay alive, a lot of the players have just decided to drop prices aggressively.

Consumers in America would pay twice as much 10 years ago for content. People were spending, on average, $55 for content 10 years ago, and the quality of the content, the amount of content that we’re getting, the spend is 10 or 12 fold and they’re paying dramatically less. I think we want a good deal for consumers, but I think over time, there’s real opportunity, particularly for us, in that quality area, to raise price.

First, we have to say, HRMMMM. Because we haven’t seen anyone outside of McDonald’s even MENTION a price decrease. I’d like to meet these players that are dropping their prices aggressively. Are they in the room with us? Apple TV+: Price Increase. Netflix: Price Increase. Even Dropout.tv has raised its streaming subscription costs. The idea that everyone else is undercutting HBO Max by reducing their prices is laughable at best. But it’s also interesting that Zaslav considers the quality of HBO Max to be so far and beyond the quality of other streamers that it has almost a right to raise its prices. At least, that’s what we’re taking away from the discussion.

The question of whether Americans are paying less for more is also a tricky one. More content absolutely exists, that feels true. But with pricing constantly increasing, it feels like there is no longer any ceiling on what one COULD potentially pay to subscribe to all the streamers. And that does not feel good. How does one mark increasing quality and what it is worth? Where does the price rise end? In some ways, it feels like quality can only continually increase so far, but, pricing, that can increase forever.

Which brings us to the idea of love. People do love content. I personally LOVE content. Nerds wouldn’t be nerds if they didn’t have intense love affairs with TV shows, movies, and more. But should you raise prices as people become more and more in love with your product? We guess capitalism suggests you should. But, in the end, love also has a ceiling. And the more folks have to pay for HBO Max, the less far their love will go. We feel like, in the end, keeping quality and price at a reasonable place and maintaining a welcoming environment that caters to the user experience will go farther than a price increase ever could. But that’s just us.