Unique selling points
Much of this popularity can be attributed to the variety of original programming that has helped HBO distinguish itself from other subscription television and on-demand networks. Perhaps the most well-known series on HBO is "Game of Thrones," based on a series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, which aired its eighth and final season in 2019. As of 2021, Game of Thrones was the program with the second highest amount of Emmy Award wins of all time, racking up 59 trophies in total. The last award shows have also been quite profitable for HBO. At the 2022 Golden Globe Awards, the network won six trophies with shows like the comedy dramas “Succession” and “Hacks”, making it the most successful network that year.Capturing new markets
In the U.S., HBO’s subscriber base had risen steadily from 2010 to 2017, when it peaked at 54 million. After a sharp decline, the number of domestic subscribers has increased again since 2021, reaching 47 million. Worldwide, the subscriber count stood at over 70 million that year, demonstrating HBO’s popularity both domestically and overseas. In particular the streaming service HBO Max, which was first launched in the U.S., is expected to grow further in the years to come. After the successful start of the on-demand platform in Latin America, Spain, and the Nordic countries in October 2021, it continued its global rollout by joining the streaming markets in the Netherlands, Portugal, and several Central and Eastern European countries on March 8, 2022.In 2021, the parent company of WarnerMedia, AT&T, and Discovery announced to merge WarnerMedia and Discovery to create the new standalone media business Warner Bros. Discovery. This deal is supposed to be completed in the second quarter of 2022 and announced changes that include the combination of the streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+, making HBO Max an even stronger video-on-demand product with more varied program choices.
