Comedy-drama TV series “Insecure” is the first HBO title heading to Netflix, with more on the way. Netflix announced today that all five seasons of “Insecure,” which aired on HBO between 2016 and 2021, are now available on its streaming platform. The launch comes a few weeks after reports indicated that Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) was in talks to license HBO titles to Netflix.
A Netflix spokesperson told TechCrunch that “Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific,” “Six Feet Under” and “Ballers” will be coming to the streaming service at a later date. “True Blood” will be available to Netflix subscribers outside the U.S. The select library of HBO titles will be released on Netflix on a non-exclusive basis, which means they will continue streaming on Max, the rebranded WBD-owned streamer that recently launched in May.
The deal marks a significant move for both companies since Netflix is arguably WBD’s largest competitor. WBD reports 97.6 million subscribers across HBO, HBO Max (now called Max) and Discovery+. Netflix has a whopping 232 million subs as of Q1 2023. By bringing HBO content to Netflix, WDB is likely hoping that the titles reach a wider audience.
It’s worth noting that HBO’s most popular titles, like “Game of Thrones,” “Succession” and “The Wire,” are not included in the list of titles that will be released on Netflix.
This isn’t the first time that WBD licensed its HBO programming to media companies. WBD recently made the decision to distribute 2,000 hours of content, including the popular HBO series “Westworld,” to Roku and Tubi. Earlier this month, the company reached an agreement with Amazon Freevee to launch 11 free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels featuring WBD-owned IP, including “Cake Boss,” “Say Yes to the Dress,” “Ghost Brothers” and more.
In 2014, older HBO titles like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “True Blood,” among others, became available on Prime Video.