HBO NOW Considers Pricing Discounts

Fans of popular HBO originals like Game of Thrones will be happy to see a recent survey that HBO is asking users to fill out at the end of their one-month free trial period.  It asks if the user would consider joining HBO NOW at a lower price.  It doesn’t stop there either.  HBO gives some price points which could be very telling.  Given the discounted pricing they suggest compared to competing streaming services like Showtime and Netflix we suspect a price drop will be coming soon for HBO NOW.

HBO NOW pricing survey

As you can see above HBO is asking members whether or not they would take advantage of the following offers over the next three months:

  • Another one month free trial
  • Three months of HBO NOW for $29.99
  • Six months of HBO NOW for $59.99
  • A full year of HBO NOW for $99.99

HBO’s popular stand-alone streaming service was launched in April and currently costs subscribers $15 a month.  Oddly enough the survey doesn’t hint at a new monthly price.  HBO might be looking to move customers to longer term billing cycles.  That’s quite common for online services.  In this case if they keep the monthly price at $15 you could save 33% on quarterly or semi-annual billing.  Signing up for a year of HBO NOW for $99.99 would save you 44% or $80 off the regular price.  Members would need to pay up front for the desired term to save.

Let’s assume for a moment that HBO decides to discount their plans and offer the pricing shown above.  If you sign up for a year of HBO NOW it would cost you the equivalent of $8.33 a month.  Let’s see how that stacks up to the competition:

When you factor in the yearly discount HBO NOW would be priced right in line with other popular online services like Netflix and Hulu.  They would actually cost less than the new Showtime streaming service.  That would put HBO NOW in a great position to grow while passing on the savings to subscribers.  Giving cable and satellite customers one more reason to cut the cord.

I seriously doubt the discounts will stop with HBO NOW.  Once prices start dropping customers of other services will expect similar savings.  It’s only a matter of time before prices come down for other popular streaming services.  Not to mention all the other competitors looking to jump into the space.  Sony is working hard to expand their Playstation Vue offering and Apple is expected to introduce their own video streaming service in the months to come.  After they launch Apple Music.

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