Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is to rebrand its Max streaming platform as HBO Max this summer.
The platform was originally launched in the US as HBO Max in 2020, but changed its name to Max in 2023, apparently in an attempt to give the service a broader appeal.
The change back comes as WBD’s streaming business has been “re-focusing the strategy on the programming that is working best like HBO, recent box-office movies, docuseries, certain reality series, and Max and local originals,” the company said in a statement.
The rebrand, announced at WBD’s upfront programming presentation in New York, has also, the company added, 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.”
WBD said its streaming business has turned around profitability by almost $3bn in two years – the company recently reported a first quarter streaming profit of $339m – and, after adding 22m subscribers over the past year, has “a clear path” to 150m-plus subscribers by the end of 2026.
Under its current Max banner, the WBD platform recently launched in Australia and Turkey and expects to be in 85 markets around the world by the end of this year. The service is expected to launch in the UK, Italy, Germany and Ireland early next year thanks to an agreement between WBD and Sky, HBO’s longstanding output deal partner in those territories.
HBO’s high-end drama, comedy and documentary programming – including series like The Last Of Us, Succession and House of the Dragon and feature documentaries such as Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – has been a core component of the service since it launched.
Commenting on the rebrand, WBD president and CEO David Zaslav said: “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.”
Streaming president and CEO J B 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.”
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