In April 2023, something strange happened: At a splashy press event held on Warner Bros.’ studio lot in Burbank, HBO and Max Content Head Casey Bloys announced to an assembled group of press why it was so essential that HBO’s own streamer cut off the “HBO” part of its name and simply become “Max.”
HBO Max? Oh, that was just too good. Too prestige-y!
“The same people who are concerned today about taking ‘HBO’ out of the name … were outraged that ‘HBO’ was put in the name in the first place, that it was called ‘HBO Max,’” Bloys told a room of reporters that day. “So I understand and appreciate the passion that people feel for the HBO brand and protecting and believing — nobody believes that more than me and my team. It’s a premium brand. It is not designed to take on everything in the streaming service.”
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It was a full (and frankly, silly) rebrand, less than three years since the creation of the streaming service. And, two years later, at today’s Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation in New York, WBD brass reversed course, announcing that later this summer, Max will become HBO Max. Again.
While an official date for this “new” re-branding was not announced beyond “summer,” released press materials around today’s announcement already slip in the use of “HBO Max” with serious familiarity. Billed in official press materials as a “rebrand,” it’s more technically a re-re-brand, all the way back to where the service started in 2020. WBD seems to know this — the press release even included this cheeky little meme, indicating that this was all just part of a particularly ill-communicated “break”:
David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said during the presentation, “The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming. Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead.”
Looks like prestige and brand recognition is good again. Isn’t it incredible how much (and how little) can change in just two years?
WBD reports that its “streaming business has incredible momentum, turning around its profitability by almost $3B in just two years and scaling globally with 22M subscribers added over the past year, with a clear path to over 150M+ by the end of 2026.”
Today’s official release also noted, “This evolution has also been influenced by changing consumer needs, and the fact that no consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content. With other services filling the more basic needs with volume, WBD has clearly distinguished itself through its quality and distinct stories, and no brand has done that better and more consistently over 50+ years than HBO.”
It’s almost as if the use of “HBO” indicated quality, which viewers wanted? And maybe one streaming service can’t include everything?
The official materials also shared, “Returning the HBO brand into HBO Max will further drive the service forward and amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect from the offering. It is also a testament to WBD’s willingness to keep boldly iterating its strategy and approach — leaning heavily on consumer data and insights — to best position itself for success.”
During the WBD Upfront on stage at Madison Square Garden, Bloys provided further details on the upcoming change, this time telling assembled press, “With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition. And it clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for.”
