AT&T's HBO Max Numbers Don't Add Up

The rhetoric is riveting. AT&T (NYSE: T) just said it's upping expectations for the number of HBO streaming customers it will be serving by 2025, from 2019's projection of between 75 million and 90 million to its new outlook of a whopping 150 million. For perspective, Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) just saw its Disney+ customer base eclipse the 100 million mark, while Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) boasts 204 million paying members worldwide. Not bad.

AT&T's WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar went on to explain, "Based on publicly available data and analysts' estimates, we believe that we are already the No. 2 revenue-generating stand-alone subscription video-on-demand service in the U.S." Presumably, Netflix's Canadian and United States customers paying an average of $13.51 a month qualify it as the domestic market leader.

Kilar's wording could be easily misinterpreted though, painting a far more bullish picture for AT&T's streaming opportunity than merited.

Source Fool.com