HBO Max’s Global Expansion: Integrating Sports and Entertainment for Growth
In the final panel session of MIP London today, Warner Bros Discovery executives Leah Hooper Rosa and Scott Young outlined their vision for Max’s global expansion and highlighted the critical role sports content plays in driving subscriber growth and engagement.
Ambitious Global Expansion
“We’re in 75 countries at the moment,” Rosa, who oversees Max’s growth across regions, revealed to the audience. “Australia is the next country we’re going live in on the 31st of March, followed by Turkey and several other countries later this year.”
With 110 million subscribers globally and their strongest quarterly growth reported three months ago, Max is aggressively pursuing its ambition to become a top-three global streaming service. The platform expanded into 25 European markets last year, with France being their largest new market launch.
The Sports Advantage
A significant differentiator for Max in a crowded streaming landscape is its integration of premium sports content alongside entertainment offerings. Scott Young, who manages live sports content for Warner Bros. Discovery, emphasized the unique role sports plays in the content ecosystem.
“Sports still remains that robust bastion, the last appointment to view,” Young explained. “It has a real magnetic nature to bring people for a moment in time to come to a platform whether it’s linear or streaming.”
While many streaming services focus exclusively on entertainment content, Max has leveraged WBD’s sports rights portfolio to create compelling packages that drive both initial acquisition and ongoing engagement. The company delivered 24,000 sporting events last year, with approximately 300 different events streaming live in any given week.
Sports Driving Engagement Across Entertainment
One of the most interesting revelations was how sports content serves as a gateway to broader platform engagement. “When people come onto the platform due to sports, we’re seeing much higher time on platform or engagement as they then finish a sporting event and move across to entertainment properties,” Young noted.
This synergy between sports and entertainment content appears to be a powerful retention driver. Rosa added that markets where premium entertainment sits alongside premium sports show consistently higher engagement and retention rates.
The executives highlighted internal collaboration between sports and entertainment teams to maximise impact. “We sit alongside each day and talk about what is in the entertainment pipeline, what is currently in the sports pipeline,” Young explained. “We’re understanding how to create a 360-ecosystem within our office that I’ve never seen in any other business I’ve worked for.”
Technological Innovation Enhancing the Sports Experience
Young emphasised that streaming offers substantial advantages over linear TV for sports viewing. “Watching sport on a streaming platform is far more engaging than watching on a linear channel,” he stated, highlighting features like timeline markers, multi-view capabilities, and interactive alerts.
These technological innovations maintain viewer engagement by ensuring they never miss key moments. For example, during the Olympics, Max implemented a medal alert system that would notify viewers of imminent gold medal moments in other events, allowing them to quickly switch streams without leaving the platform.
Distribution Strategy
Max’s approach to market entry focuses on wide-scale availability rather than exclusivity. “We believe in bundling and having wide-scale distribution,” Rosa explained. “We want to work with as many partners as we can in a market.”
This strategy was evident in France, where Max launched simultaneously with Canal+, Amazon, Orange and Free, maximizing reach from day one. For their UK launch, Max has already secured a non-exclusive deal with Sky that will put the service in potentially 10 million homes, while maintaining flexibility to work with additional partners.
Combating Content Overload
Addressing the challenge of content discovery in an era of abundance, the executives emphasized personalization as a priority. “The key for us is being ready for new customers and that onboarding process,” Young explained. “Not having to wait so long for an algorithm to kick in.”
Rosa added that the first month is critical for retention: “Making sure we get them past the first month is the biggest hurdle we have. So we have to ensure that every time they go to the platform, there’s something for them to watch.”
Looking Ahead
When asked about future developments, both executives expressed enthusiasm about Max’s expansion plans. Young highlighted the upcoming merger of TNT Sports and Eurosport content in the UK market and the long-term potential of the platform ahead of the Winter Olympics in February 2026.
Rosa pointed to the upcoming Harry Potter series as a flagship content initiative that has the whole company excited.
With its combination of premium entertainment, comprehensive sports coverage, technological innovation, and strategic partnerships, Max is positioning itself as a distinctive option in an increasingly competitive streaming landscape. As the platform continues its global rollout through 2025 and beyond, the integration of sports and entertainment remains a cornerstone of its strategy for sustainable growth.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).
