{"id":279529,"date":"2025-11-23T21:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T21:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/279529\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T21:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T21:07:15","slug":"hbo-max-chief-talks-failed-rebranding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/279529\/","title":{"rendered":"HBO Max Chief Talks Failed Rebranding"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most obvious failures in recent rebranding would have to be HBO\u2019s short-lived conversion to just \u2018Max\u2019.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that its HBO Max streaming service would be rebranded as simply \u2018Max\u2019. It was a confusing decision that never really caught on that much, many wondering why give up the value of the HBO brand name.<\/p>\n

Then, in May this year, Warner Bros. Discovery announced Max would be renamed once again \u2013 this time going back to the original \u2018HBO Max\u2019. Speaking to reporters at HBO Max\u2019s New York offices this week, CEO Casey Bloys spoke about that failed rebranding, calling it a misstep in the race to catch up to Netflix. <\/p>\n

As a result, the return to the HBO Max name was all about getting back to HBO\u2019s original mission statement \u2013 quality over quantity. He tells THR<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\u201cTo Netflix\u2019s credit, as the first mover, they have become a utility for consumers. In retrospect, we can all see that the streaming industry\u2019s race for volume, years ago, found many brands losing their identity.<\/p>\n

[Netflix] is the basic cable of today, and in today\u2019s world, consumers still want to add to their entertainment portfolio with must-have, truly unique programming that only we can deliver.<\/p>\n

We looked at all the research and came back to what they want are HBO originals, pay-one movies, the Warner Bros. TV library, the procedurals, for lack of a better word, but the elevated network [programming] that we\u2019re working on, documentaries, comedy specials. We just came back from trying to offer too much, so we are trying to be very specific in what people value from us, and want from us.<\/p>\n

Another issue was confusion between HBO series like \u201cThe Penguin\u201d and \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d with Max originals like \u201cDoom Patrol,\u201d \u201cRaised by Wolves,\u201d and \u201cPeacemaker\u201d. With the reversion, that\u2019s been cleared up a bit:<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say now that Max Originals serve a very specific purpose: We are leaning into more cost-efficient, yet elevated and high quality series with a greater number of episodes that can return each year. These originals are designed to attract audiences that are adjacent to the typical HBO fans, while also feeding our strategy to deliver 52 weeks of new programming a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

HBO Max and Discovery+ have between them over 125 million global subscribers as of late 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most obvious failures in recent rebranding would have to be HBO\u2019s short-lived conversion to just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[94966,96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-279529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bigslider","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-tv","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}