The HBO Max demographic breakdowns continue to make me laugh—and this one is in a good way. With the Warner Bros./Discovery merger, we’ve continued to see a bit of a mess with how the platforms are viewed on the corporate side of things, what their “plans” are for projects that are underway, and a frightening trend of taking programs off the platforms with nowhere else to watch them. And now, we’re getting more of a look into how the company is breaking down their two streaming services and who watches them.
According to The Daily Beast, there was an internal graphic that made the rounds that had the following listed for HBO Max viewership: “HBO Max is popular with diverse groups, single people, and drivers of hybrid cars.” While the Discovery+ viewership read as follows: “Discovery+ is popular with white, married people who drive SUVs, minivans, and “traveling buses.””
Now, what’s fascinating is this is more of the breakdown I personally wanted during their post-merger investor call when they simply listed HBO Max with a “male skew” vs. the Discovery+ “female skew.” I wanted more about the overall tone and “vibe” (if you will) of what these platforms thought their audience makeup was. Seeing this, it’s a lot different than seeing a “male skew” bullet point.
It went on to say that HBO Max viewers tend to be on Instagram and TikTok, while Discovery+ users are (if on any social media platforms) using Facebook and Twitter more—the if is doing a lot of work, because I’d say, in general, that HBO Max viewers are online more because a lot of us are live-tweeting alone to things like Succession and Irma Vep, which aren’t exactly the biggest of “fandom” shows.
I still think it’s funny that those of us who are HBO Max regulars are considered in this way just because, well, at least this breakdown feels a bit more accurate while also calling us out.
Male-skewed, single, and on social media
Part of the issue with the “male skew” comment from the earnings call that happened after the cancellation of Batgirl was that it erased so many of its viewers by just simply saying that their shows are more “fandom” based and didn’t provide numbers or how they got any of that information in the first place. Focusing this set of information, in part, on who is and isn’t on social media makes it seem a bit more accurate, just because you can see who is talking about these shows.
Still, the fact that it says “single people” does hurt my soul a bit. I guess they’re continuing to do these breakdowns (internally) to show how the two platforms could work together in the future and bring both sides of these viewers to one streaming giant, but it still feels strange to break down your viewership in this way instead of looking at the individual shows you already released and how well they do in target audiences.
Still, I am male-skewed, single, and on social media, according to the Warner Bros. Discovery data, and I will be making that my bio on any future project that requires it of me.
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
