Warner Bros. Discovery closed the second quarter of 2022 with more than 92 million combined direct-to-consumer subscribers. Previously known as WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. the two companies completed a merger earlier in 2022 that resulted in the creation of Warner Bros. Discovery. The merging also saw the bringing together of HBO, HBO Max, and Discovery+ under the one company, leading to the reporting of the combined totals.
Neither HBO Max nor Discovery Plus have been around that long but both have proven to be popular options with consumers. It does help that both come with their own unique selling points. For example, HBO Max brings together popular Warner Bros. movies with HBO shows, while Discovery Plus brings together popular food, home, and true crime shows together under the one streaming roof.
Now that the companies have merged, the subscriber details are being provided together as well. In total, there were 92.1 million combined HBO, HBO Max and Discovery Plus subscribers, as of the close of the second quarter of 2022. As the earnings report explains, this resulted in an increase of 1.7 million global subscribers compared to the first quarter of this year. Warner Bros. Discovery chose not to provide specific details on each service, opting to offer a “harmonized subscriber“ number instead.
By its own measurements, the 92.1 million DTC subscribers at the end of Q2 was up from 90.4 million in Q1 2022 and 75.8 million in Q2 2021. For reference, the release of AT&T’s (the former owner of WarnerMedia) Q1 financials previously confirmed that the first quarter of this year closed with a total of 76.8 million combined HBO Max and HBO subscribers. At the end of the same quarter, Discovery Plus was understood to have around 24 million DTC subscribers.
Regardless of whether the quarterly numbers are up or down on previous quarters, the current 92.1 million included 53 million domestic DTC subscribers, with the remaining 39.1 million accounting for international subscribers to HBO, HBO Max and Discovery Plus.
