Everything old is new again. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) backed streamer Max is returning to its original name, HBO Max. The service launched in 2020 but decided to rebrand to just Max in 2023 after a merger.
WBD announced the return to its former moniker on May 14th at an upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. The name change would take place over the summer.
“This evolution has also been influenced by changing consumer needs,” said JB Perrette, President and CEO of Streaming in a statement. “No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content.”
The company isn’t outright saying that the rebrand to Max was a mistake. However, WBD calls the move “a testament to WBD’s willingness to keep boldly iterating its strategy and approach – leaning heavily on consumer data and insights.”
So basically, customers kept calling it HBO Max, and they are just leaning into it.
Max Back to HBO Max
“With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s CEO, during the reveal. “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.”
“We’ve been iterating on this, both from a content and strategy standpoint for the last two years, ever since we launched, in the positioning of it, in terms of who we are and how we’re different than what others in the marketplace are doing in terms of volume, We’re more about quality and distinction,” Perrette tells Deadline.
As you can imagine, with a decision this big, Perrette and Bloys went over consumer data with WBD CEO David Zaslav.
“And reality is, David said, look, the consumer always tells you whether you’re right or wrong,” Perrette adds. “And in that context, why don’t you go back? That sounds like HBO. Let’s be bold and make the right decision for our business at a moment of great strength. David was a great champion of saying, we should go back to including HBO in the brand, because nothing stands for distinction and quality more than HBO.”
WBD believes that rebranding back to HBO Max will “amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect from the offering.”
We’ll keep you posted on updates about this situation as it develops. But we all know what you’re thinking here:
