Turns out, Warner Bros. Discovery thinks HBO has some pretty good brand equity, after all. This summer, streamer Max will bend the knee and rebrand back to its original name, HBO Max.
The change comes just over two years after Warner Bros. Discovery decided to drop HBO from the streamer’s name to become just Max. Note that while HBO and Max have carried separate commercial branding during that time, they’ve competed under one “HBO/Max” label for industry awards.
The surprise announcement, made less than two months after Max tweaked its logo to look more like the classic black-and-white HBO color scheme, was revealed at Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront presentation to ad execs in New York on Wednesday.
In a press release, WBD said “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.”
WBD touted its streaming business growth, noting the division has improved its profitability by almost $3 billion in two years, and added 22 million subscribers over the past year. The company says the streamer is on track to reach more than 150 million subscribers by the end of 2026.
“The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming,” Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav told the audience in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. “Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead.”
WBD’s naming flip-flopping for its flagship streaming service — which has caused more than a little confusion among consumers — amounts to an admission by the company it can’t be as broad as the industry leader, Netflix. The original justification for dropping HBO from HBO Max was to signal a something-for-everyone content cornucopia.
Warner Bros. Discovery 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.”
“With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition,” Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, said. “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.”
The social media team at Warner Bros. Discovery clearly knew the internet would have field day with the news of the reversion of the streamer’s name to HBO Max — and tried to get in front of memes about the switcheroo. “These rebrands are trying to murder me,” the (soon-to-be-defunct) Stream on Max account said in its updated bio on X Wednesday.
After the coming change back to HBO Max was announced at the upfront, WBD relaunched its dormant HBO Max accounts on social media.
“What is dead may never die,” the newly resurrected HBO Max on X account posted, featuring a clip from “Game of Thrones” Season 6 of Jon Snow coming back to life. “HBO Max coming this summer. Same app, new-ish name.”
From Variety US