During its earnings report on Thursday, AT&T presented a positive outlook regarding the growth of HBO Max subscriptions. The company reported that new HBO Max sign-ups more than doubled compared to the second quarter, totaling 8.6 million in the third quarter, even without availability on Roku, a leading streaming service in the United States.

By the end of the quarter, a total of 28.7 million customers had access to stream HBO Max as part of their subscription packages, according to AT&T.

Of this number, 25.1 million gained access through “wholesale” agreements with television providers such as Comcast, Charter, Verizon [TechCrunch’s parent company], and AT&T’s DirecTV. The remaining 3.625 million represent direct “retail” subscribers who signed up for HBO Max independently.

Across both HBO and HBO Max, the combined subscriber base reached 38 million in the U.S. and 57 million globally. This figure exceeded the company’s earlier projection of 36 million U.S. subscribers by the end of the year, as stated in the report.

However, AT&T’s reported numbers may not fully reflect actual viewership of HBO Max content.

AT&T emphasizes quarterly “activations” without clarifying that a limited number of customers are directly choosing to subscribe to HBO Max by paying the $15 monthly fee. A significant portion of these activations simply represent customers becoming eligible to access the streaming service through their current HBO subscriptions, and many have not yet begun streaming.

Indeed, a considerable number of these 8.6 million new “activations” may not even be aware of HBO Max’s existence, particularly if they use streaming platforms like Roku where the service is unavailable. Alternatively, they may be aware of the service but assume it has not yet launched due to its absence on Roku.

Roku has proactively addressed this issue by implementing support for AirPlay 2 on its newer devices, enabling Apple users to stream content from applications not yet available directly on the Roku platform.

AT&T also confirmed its continued investment in HBO Max, allocating approximately $600 million during the third quarter, bringing the year-to-date investment to $1.3 billion. The company anticipates an estimated total investment of $2 billion by the end of the year.

The company also noted positive consumer engagement with the new platform, reporting a nearly 60% increase compared to HBO Now levels. Beyond this, few specific success metrics were shared, although AT&T stated that its “library” content is “performing incredibly well” with its audience. Furthermore, the company acknowledged that only one or two licensed programs have appeared in the HBO Max top 10, and admitted that the initial launch could have featured a more robust selection of original programming.

Regarding product development, AT&T announced plans to release software updates every 45 days to enhance the app’s user interface and overall usability. The company remains on schedule to introduce an advertising-supported version of the service (AVOD) in 2021, as previously announced, and to expand its international reach.

AT&T CEO John Stankey explained that “AVOD not only allows us to broaden the offering [and] the amount of content we put on the platform,” but also “allows us to reach a different price point and attract different segments of the market, and as a result of that we think that will be an important market expansion capability for us.”