In France, regulars of streaming services have known Max since its launch on the territory last year, just in time to rebroadcast the Paris Olympic Games. But the Warner Bros Discovery group platform has not always been named. In the United States, the service made its debut in 2020 under the name HBO Max. Finally, the prefix associated with the famous American television channel was abandoned during the merger of the platform with Discovery Plus and the export of service through the globe. Except that probably, Warner Bros now bites his fingers.
During a presentation organized at Madison Square Garden in New York this Wednesday, May 14, 2025, the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery finally announced a step back for Max. If we believe the lyrics of David Zaslav, the streaming platform is doing very well, but will be worn even better by reinstating the HBO brand in its name: “The strong growth we have observed in our global broadcast service is based on the quality of our programming. Today, we bring back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in the media, to further accelerate this growth in the years to come.“
A “new” name to counter the competitors
This sudden change of identity does not come out of nowhere. The backtrack seemed to have been started when the reboot series ofHarry Potter lost its name “Max Original”For the benefit of the HBO stamp. But the declarations of the day finally allow us to understand the logic behind these modifications. The problem does not come from the name Max In itself, but of the image that consumers associate with large streaming platforms.
Today, other major services such as Netflix and Disney+ seem to favor quantity to quality, while increasing their drastically prices. And according to David Zaslav, the reputation of the HBO channel in terms of quality deserves to be associated with the image of Max:
“This development (of the streaming market, editor’s note) was influenced by the changing consumer needs and by the fact that no consumer today prefers to have more content rather than better quality content. While other services meet the most basic needs by volume, Warner Bros Discovery has clearly distinguished itself by its quality and its distinct stories, and no brand has done it better and more consistent for more than 50 years than HBO.”
The message is clear: Warner Bros does not want to be associated with its competitors. Now, will this name change have a real impact on spectators around the world, less able to know the reputation of HBO? Nothing is less certain. But what is certain is that some users may wonder why a new application entitled HBO Max has settled on their smartphones and tablets on its own. Good luck to explain this to your older loved ones!
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