It appears as though Warner Bros. Discovery joined every other fan of their shows and movies in asking “Who is Max?”
After removing hundreds of hours of Sesame Street, licensing its popular shows and movies to the likes of free streamers Tubi and Roku, and generally trying to be Netflix-lite, the streamer is looking to recapture the heyday of streaming with a name change.
Although, the next name viewers see on the service will look mightily familiar.
Return of the (HBO) Max
Two years after dropping the HBO from the title, Max is finally getting back to its original namesake as HBO Max. The news was announced at Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront on May 14.
The move comes just two months after the Max logo was changed to resemble the HBO logo.
On the decision to revert back to HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery indicates that consumer familiarity is the goal.
In a press release, they state: “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.”
Home Box Office Made Accessibly X-Treme
In the same press release, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav reiterated the company’s focus on excellence the HBO brand instilled decades ago.
“The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming,” he said. “Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead.”
President and CEO of Streaming JB Perrette added “We will continue to focus on what makes us unique – not everything for everyone in a household, but something distinct and great for adults and families. It’s really not subjective, not even controversial – our programming just hits different.”
Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, expresses the continued focus on quality over quantity.
“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.”
There’s no word on the exact date of the name change. However, the timeline is set for this summer.
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