HBO Max today launched one of the season’s most aggressive streaming deals, slashing the price of its ad-supported plan for a full year to $2.99 per month. That headline number is the equivalent of a 73 percent discount off the regular monthly rate of $10.99 for new and returning customers, which comes out to just $35.88 for a full-year subscription.
It’s an easy offer with big savings: Commit to 12 months of the With Ads plan for the lowest widely advertised price ever offered from the service, and then auto-renew at its regular rates unless you stop it.
For deal scavengers who are used to rotating subscriptions of every service, however, one-year runway eliminates the monthly shuffle and keeps the bill nearly invisible.
Why This Cyber Monday Deal Is So Good for a Full Year
Streaming prices have been inching upward for the past two years, and promotional windows have shrunk. Against that backdrop, $2.99 for 12 months at HBO Max is an exception. The discount pencils out to about $96 in savings a year and falls below what the platform offered during previous holiday campaigns, when comparable teaser rates often lasted six months.
There’s strategy behind the generosity. The subscriber analytics firm Antenna has recorded record streaming churn as households rotate in and out of services at higher rates than ever, according to its data. Extending a promotional rate for an entire year reduces the temptation to cancel after watching one show, and helps HBO Max level off those seasonal spikes. In other words, the $2.99 price tag is as much about keeping a user’s attention as buying it in the first place.
What You Get on the With Ads Plan at $2.99 a Month
The tier supported by ads will feature the entire HBO library as well as Warner Bros. and Max Originals with streaming at 1080p, two concurrent streams and no offline downloads. There will be a light commercial load relative to traditional TV; Warner Bros. Discovery has previously pointed to a few minutes per hour of ads on this tier, much less than the linear average.
Content remains the calling card. Headlining the lineup are prestige series including The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, The White Lotus and Succession, while Warner Bros. movies often migrate to streaming after their theatrical runs. For families, workhorses from Cartoon Network and Studio Ghibli add depth to the bench, while unscripted fare fills in between tentpoles.
There are, of course, compromises: you won’t get 4K HDR or downloads on the With Ads tier, and some live sports add-ons or premium features could require a higher tier if and when they’re available.
But for most streamers who binge through a couple of shows every month, the math ($2.99!) is hard to top — less than the cost of a single digital movie rental in exchange for access to an entire year’s worth of releases.
How It Stacks Up Against Rival Offers This Season
Subscription holiday promos are not unusual in streaming, but the variables that typically change are also standard: some services offer super-low teaser rates for one to three months; others include hardware or wireless plans. Netflix rarely discounts at all. Where HBO Max’s offer stands out is its duration — locking in the price for a high-value library at such a low cost now for 12 months, which will cut against churn and offer budget certainty during an expensive year in which many took hikes.
Consumer surveys in Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends report indicate that the average number of paid services per household is 5+, and dissatisfaction with cost is the No. 1 driver for cancellations. A long runway at a cost cut to the bone is exactly the kind of friction-reducer that keeps a service in rotation. For the ever-awardier HBO Max, which debuts new series in rough waves, that consistency counts for a lot.
Key Fine Print to Know Before You Subscribe
Eligibility is restricted to new and returning customers who are not currently billed directly for a plan. Promotions do not apply to third-party bundles and/or legacy rates. Plans automatically renew at then-current rates after the promotional period, except as canceled before the end of that period. Availability and taxes vary by market, and there’s typically a limit of one per account.
If you’ve subscribed through a mobile app store, such as Apple, Google Play or Verizon, there may be other ways to claim the promo or cancel your subscription and resubscribe under the same billing path. The lowest price is for the With Ads plan; you can always upgrade if you need downloads or 4K HDR, but realize that upgrading to a higher tier usually ends your discount.
Who This HBO Max Cyber Monday Deal Is For
If you’d planned to get caught up on buzzy HBO series, or if what you want next year is a low-cost anchor service, this is a rare window. Even if a casual viewer watches just one flagship show each quarter, the value is disproportionately in their favor — and for heavy viewers, those savings will rapidly accrue. With potential award-season players, repeat franchise business and a reliable flow of synergistic Warner Bros. films, $2.99 per month is a no-brainer recommendation.
