Warner Bros. Discovery sets peak deployment dates in Australia and several Asian markets

A1 Digital India News: On the same day that Max launched in Japan via local partner U-Next, James Gibbons, president of APAC at Warner Bros. Discovery, revealed that the company plans to bring Max directly to consumers in Australia in the first half of 2025. In doing so, Max will launch in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in late 2024. Max will replace existing HBO Go services.

In regards to specific dates for each region, Gibbons was a little vague, but said Max would be launched in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan “in the coming weeks and months.” Gibbons was promoting at the APOS Media, Telecommunications and Entertainment Industry Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

With Max officially available in Japan via U-Next, Gibbons went into more detail about the deal. He said Max will remain in the U-Next platform at no additional cost to consumers. The deal would also be a "two-way street", where U-Next would take Max content, but Max would also pick up some of U-Next's Japanese content, including anime, for the global platform.

As for local production in Japan following the U-Next deal, Gibbons said WBD would continue to invest in the country, and after finding success with anime adaptations of some of the company's DC properties, including recent isekai series Suicide Squad, it would try to increase production expenditures. Gibbons said that under the studio model, Japanese content would be created with Max in mind as a streaming platform, but would also be available to other players.

Although Max, formerly called HBO Max, launched in the US in May 2020, the direct-to-consumer global rollout is slow due to local market licensing and content partnerships provided by HBO, particularly in Asia and Australia. Gibbons said WBD is taking a "flexible and diverse" strategy in its launch plans for Max. "Our goal is to reach fans and find ways to market to fans," Gibbons said. He added that where it makes sense to work with a local partner, as it does in Japan, the company will pursue that.

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