Mortal Kombat has become one of the top-performing features on HBO Max, something which was a surprise even to the executives.
In a recent interview with IGN, Brad Wilson -- WarnerMedia's executive vice president of growth and revenue -- was asked about HBO Max's inaugural year and what sort of surprises the higher-ups had seen during that time. "Mortal Kombat was an interesting title for us," Wilson answered, "Because I will say that while we expected it to do well, we did not expect it to do as well as it did. It's been one of our top assets on the platform. And those customers are now crossing over into watching all the other great titles that we typically see, but also some of the great library content that we have with Friends, The Big Bang Theory, The Sopranos, etc."
When asked about how the success of Mortal Kombat affects HBO's decisions going forward, specifically in regards to licensing and IP acquisition, Wilson responded, "We believe that we're here to share and tell stories and create meaningful, enduring connections. That is a lens by which we start. Do we use that data to inform future programming decisions? The answer is yes. We partner very frequently with Meredith Gertler [manager of content strategy and planning at HBO Max] and her team to talk through what that looks like from all the lanes — kids and family to young adult to scripted and unscripted."
"These are early days," he concluded. "We're all sort of figuring out the art and science that we lead against. But we're also trying not to deviate from a formula that we know it's been really successful with all original programming in the past."
Source: IGN