HBO Max activations double to 17.2 million in fourth quarter

“Wonder Woman 1984” helped double the HBO Max’s activations to 17.2 million, AT&T said Thursday.

The telecommunications company, which owns WarnerMedia, reported that HBO and HBO Max now have a combined 41.5 million domestic subscribers, up 20% from 34.6 million a year prior.

Of the 37.7 million HBO Max-eligible subscribers, 30 million came from wholesalers and 6.8 million were through retail channels. Retail subscribers are those that purchase the streaming service directly, not through a cable subscription or other streaming subscription.

This means that nearly half of HBO subscribers who were eligible to get HBO Max have not signed up yet.

While AT&T pointed to “Wonder Woman 1984” for the uptick in sign-ups, much of the gains were likely due to WarnerMedia striking deals in the fourth quarter to get the app on Roku devices and Amazon‘s Fire TV.

In total, the company said it invested about $800 million in HBO Max during the latest quarter, and more than $2 billion in 2020 overall.