After nearly a year, HBO Now has around 800000 paying subscribers

Speaking to analysts during parent company Time Warner’s fourth quarter earnings call, HBO CEO Richard Plepler on Wednesday disclosed that some 800,000 subscribers signed on for HBO Now between April 7 and December 31. Now has gained about 800,000 paying subscribers since it launched on Apple TV in April 2015, contributing significantly to the 2.7 million net new HBO customers in the latest quarter.

But Wall Street analysts wondered whether that customer number was low, given the enormous popularity of Netflix, which has more than 40 million subscribers in the U.S. One analyst asked whether HBO was considering cutting its $14.99-a-month price for the service to make it more competitive with Netflix and Hulu.

“I wouldn’t say only 800,000 HBO Now subs”, Mr. Plepler said, in a rejoinder to an analyst who placed significant emphasis on the word “only”. “We’re just getting started”.

Now launched in April, and lets you pay $15 per month to get HBO a la carte, no cable subscription required.

The gains didn’t seem to wow investors, as Time Warner shares fell 3.5 per cent to $61.02 in afternoon trading Wednesday. According to Plepler, “We are going to market the service more aggressively”.

Plepler said the service has yet to be offered on two major game platforms – PlayStation and Xbox, which accounts for 20 per cent of viewing of the HBO Go app that is available to traditional HBO subscribers. HBO Now was available exclusively on Apple devices for its first three months of existence.

Among the shows he touted were new offerings from former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart and sports columnist Bill Simmons, as well as a daily news program from Vice.

Going forward, Time Warner leadership said they planned to increase HBO’s global programming hours by 50% this year and would also spend more on marketing to drive subscriber growth.