Warner Bros. Discovery Is Reverting Max’s Name To HBO Max This Summer In A “Quality Over Quantity” Move
Warner Bros. Discovery finally realized, a little late, that if something isn’t broken, don’t fix it, so they are changing the name of Max back to “HBO Max.” WBD CEO David Zaslav made the surprise announcement prior to the company’s upfront presentation in New York City this week.
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“The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming,” Zaslav’s statement said via The Hollywood Reporter. “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 CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels explained on Thursday that, “What really differentiates us, what really swings the needle when it comes to growth momentum, is quality. It’s the quality content that we can produce in a way that nobody else can.” He added, “The market has spoken here, and quality is the real differentiator.”
CEO of HBO and Max Content, Casey Bloys, chimed in, “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.”
According to THR, when Bloys told the news to media buyers, there was “laughter, light applause and exactly one whistle.” The reaction came with a joke from Bloys. “I know you’re all shocked, but the good news is I have a drawer full of stationery from the last time around,” he quipped. The statement adds that WBD wants to meet consumer demand for quality over quantity.
“This evolution has 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-plus years than HBO,” it said.
It continued, “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.”
That was the thinking of the WarnerMedia regime under AT&T when they conceived the streaming option in the late 2010s. HBO was Warner’s most profitable division because of programming like Game of Thrones, and to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime, they thought they could ride that wave to become the new king in Subscription-based video on demand (SVOD).
The 2020 rollout of HBO Max wasn’t handled very elegantly, and you can’t blame the pandemic, even though it’s an easy scapegoat. In a bit of a corporate gaffe, HBO Go and HBO Now were still operational at Max’s launch and weren’t immediately discontinued. The sister app DC Universe was also caught up in the confusion, when doubts about its future ran rampant before its live-action original content was absorbed into Max.
This content included Doom Patrol and Titans, while Stargirl and Swamp Thing were added to The CW’s lineup. Each of those shows and many Max Originals can now be found for free on Tubi and elsewhere. Others, such as Raised By Wolves and Made For Love, have disappeared from streaming except for bootleg recordings and torrent sites.
Let’s not forget that Warner also propped up HBO Max with the day-and-date stunt for new releases that were hindered at theaters by COVID restrictions through 2021.
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