DoorDash teams up with Max to enhance the value of DashPass membership

The news: DoorDash partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to offer a free ad-supported Max subscription to its DashPass members—a move the company hopes will boost sign-ups and grow orders across its platform.

Why it matters: Streaming subscriptions are quickly becoming a must-have for delivery memberships as they try to attract customers and differentiate themselves from competitors: Instacart has Peacock, Walmart has Paramount+, and Amazon, of course, has its own Prime Video service. DoorDash chose to partner with Max because it felt the latter’s strong catalog and IP “would really resonate” with the DashPass audience, chief marketing officer Kofi Ammo-Gottfried told Variety. The benefits extend to Max: Not only will the streaming platform receive a healthy boost to its ad business, but the partnership will also include cross-promotions related to its upcoming programming.

At the same time, DoorDash is betting that free access to Max will entice cost-conscious consumers who might balk at spending an additional $9.99 per month on DashPass, but are happy to spend that total sum to receive both free restaurant delivery and the ability to watch shows like House of the Dragon and Friends.

The big picture: DashPass is crucial to DoorDash’s long-term goals given that members tend to spend more and order more often than non-members.

• 12% of US adults subscribed to DashPass as of June 2024, per our research.
• That’s more than the proportion who pay for Instacart+ (9%) and Uber One (7%), but less than half the number who subscribe to Walmart+ (26%).