HBO Max's plan for a cheaper ad-based tier is running into problems: Will advertising damage HBO's premium reputation?

Gizmodo

According to The Information, WarnerMedia executives are reluctant to put ads with HBO shows because "they're concerned with hurting the brand." There's also concern that advertisers wouldn't want to buy ads for HBO's adult content. "What HBO Max is left with, then, is a question of whether it should run ads on some content and not others. But that doesn’t work either," explains Gizmodo's Catie Keck. "If HBO Max, for example, attempted to exclude ads from older HBO programming and new HBO Max originals on a cheaper, ad-supported tier, there wouldn’t be a lot of incentive for folks to cough up $15 a month for premium. (Unless they were really only subscribing for the other, non-HBO and HBO Max content, which seems exceptionally unlikely.) Why would I pay $15 a month when I could get ad-free HBO and HBO Max stuff at a cheaper price? Nixing the HBO Max originals altogether from an ad-supported tier, meanwhile, is also a bad bet if the company wants to win over new subscribers in an increasingly crowded streaming space."