Netflix $NFLX ( ▲ 0.24% ) and Paramount $PARAA ( ▼ 5.93% ) are still circling Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD ( ▲ 1.25% ) , but Netflix arguably has the most riding on this deal. As the biggest paid streamer in the world, Netflix is starting to feel pressure from multiple angles, and HBO happens to solve several of its biggest problems at once.
Here’s why Netflix keeps pushing.
Subscriber growth is getting harder
Netflix has already crossed 300 million paid subscribers, which is impressive but also a warning sign. Growth in its most valuable markets is slowing, and earlier this year the company quietly stopped reporting subscriber numbers, signaling that headline growth is no longer the story it wants to tell.
Engagement has flattened, and much of Netflix’s recent growth has come from lower-priced, ad-supported plans. That helps keep users coming in, but it pressures average revenue per user and makes long-term retention harder.
HBO helps here. Its shows are the kind people schedule their lives around. That kind of appointment viewing keeps subscribers paying even when prices rise.
HBO is expensive, but not inefficient
Netflix has spent roughly $87 billion on content since 2020, pumping out massive volumes of shows and movies. Some break through. Many disappear within weeks.
HBO takes the opposite approach. Fewer shows, higher budgets, and a much stronger track record of producing long-lasting cultural hits. That efficiency matters. Over time, owning HBO could actually cost Netflix less than continuing to brute-force its content strategy with sheer volume.
Plus, Warner Bros. Discovery brings a century-deep film and TV library that Netflix cannot replicate organically.
Big tech is creeping into Netflix’s lane
Netflix increasingly argues it competes with everything that steals attention, not just other streamers. That framing sounds convenient, but the pressure is real.
YouTube under Alphabet $GOOGL ( ▲ 0.77% ) now captures more TV screen time in the US than Netflix, and it is pushing harder into paid, living-room-friendly offerings. Social platforms are also rethinking premium video. Meta $META ( ▲ 0.19% ) has openly discussed whether long-form, paid content may eventually be unavoidable.
As tech platforms experiment upward and compete on price, distribution, and attention, Netflix needs something harder to copy. HBO-style content is scarce, prestigious, and culturally sticky. That makes it far more defensible than an endless scroll of interchangeable originals.
In short, Netflix doesn’t just want Warner Bros. Discovery. It needs HBO’s gravity to defend its business as streaming enters a more crowded and expensive phase.