Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will once again rename its streaming platform, reverting from "Max" back to "HBO Max." This marks a complete cycle of the platform's name: HBO→HBO Max→Max→HBO Max.
The company announced Wednesday at its annual advertising conference in New York that this brand transformation plan will launch this summer, reusing the name that was abandoned two years ago. The renaming comes at a time when Warner Bros. Discovery is adjusting its strategy, reducing content volume, and focusing on high-quality programming and narrative quality.
"The strong growth of our Global streaming Business has always been based on program quality," said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav in a statement. "Today, we are reviving the 'HBO' brand, which represents the highest quality in the media industry, to accelerate future growth."
In the past two years, the company's streaming Business has achieved a profitable turnaround of nearly 3 billion dollars, adding approximately 22 million new subscribers globally last year, with plans to exceed 150 million users by the end of 2026. However, it is worth noting that Warner Bros. Discovery has lost its rights to broadcast NBA games starting next season, and the current strategy focuses on debt reduction rather than competing for content like Netflix (NFLX), which has over 300 million users.
Ironically, the original "HBO Max" brand was intended to showcase its Global streaming ambitions, but now it emphasizes a "quality over quantity" repositioning through the name's reversion.
"We focus on creating unique content—not providing something for every member of the family, but rather creating an exceptional experience for adults and families," stated JB Perrette, president of Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming business. "This is not a subjective judgment—our programming is indeed distinct."
Industry peer Disney has also adopted a similar strategy, with CEO Bob Iger recently emphasizing to investors that high-quality content is the key to success. Traditional media companies have generally faced profitability challenges after building their own streaming services in recent years, prompting the Industry to place more emphasis on advertising bundles, combating account sharing, and service bundling.
During the New York Annual Advertising Week, there has been frequent news about name changes: ESPN announced that its flagship streaming app will be referred to as "ESPN"; the upcoming streaming service from Fox will be named "Fox One"; after the split of Comcast's cable business, a new holding company name "Versant" was announced last week.
Warner Bros. Discovery launched the independent streaming service HBO Max during the AT&T holding period in 2020, with the "Max" suffix added to highlight the breadth of platform content (covering reality shows, documentaries, children's programs, and movies, while retaining HBO's premium dramas). Management believed at the time that the HBO user base was too small and concentrated in the USA, making it more suitable as a sub-brand under a larger streaming service.
After the split of AT&T from Warner Media and the merger with Discovery in 2022, the platform was renamed Max in 2023, integrating Discovery+ content. Two years later, Warner Bros. Discovery has shifted its strategy once again.
