It was highly anticipated that HBO’s stand alone streaming service will be launched just before HBO’s biggest fantasy TV Series Game of Thrones. It was the most suitable decision for the company because the viewership of Game of Thrones has become bigger and wider with each season coming. The size of viewership has increased in millions, which gave HBO the perfect timing to launch its standalone streaming service. As announced earlier, the charges of HBO NOW is $14.99/Month and it also has the free first month i.e. similar to the trial to the streaming giant Netflix. However, HBO NOW can only be subscribed through Apple TV or Apple devices.

This is a big limitation, but for the launch it is suitable, as the biggest hit of HBO is coming in just a few days. The Game of Thrones fans can certainly be good audience for the subscription, even via Apple’s platform. However, HBO needs to make it standalone in the real sense, in order to give the streaming giant a perfect competition. Currently, Netflix charges almost half of the price what HBO NOW is charging and for Netflix, the subscribers don’t need any third party device or platform. For time being, it is probable to say that HBO NOW can be a big success for the company, but in the longer run, HBO will have to make HBO NOW available on all the platforms.

In addition, the pricing might also have to be tweaked for HBO NOW subscription, because the Game of Thrones will be running the whole year. Last, the binge watch mode in Netflix can also make a difference, because HBO just can’t give all 10 episodes of Game of Thrones to its users like Netflix does. We all have to see what’s going to happen with HBO NOW, but right now, the standalone streaming service of HBO seems to be a success, mainly because of Game of Thrones Season 5.