Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that starting May 23, it will merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming app called Max.
This is WBD’s attempt to emulate the one-stop convenience of Netflix, the latter of which seemingly offers everything under the sun, from “Love is Blind” (the low-hanging fruit of a crass reality series) to the elegantly outrageous dark comedy “Beef” (which fits snugly into the prestige category) to everything in between.
WBD is looking to offer a similar variety on one streaming platform: that means all the Discovery staples — home improvement and true crime — along with the ambitious shows HBO is known for. Plus Warners’ extensive TV and film library (which includes TCM).
So why not just call the new and improved platform HBO Max? It’s a name that already has significant brand awareness associated with quality. Abandoning that seems counterintuitive and has left many longtime HBO viewers scratching their heads. It makes no sense. It almost seems hostile, as if HBO were a millstone around WBD’s neck. Why?
Here’s the corporate-speak answer from the company’s streaming chief JB Perrette: “We’ll better elevate and showcase our unparalleled array of other content and brands that will be key to broadening the appeal of this enhanced product.”
Are your eyes glazing over?
Let’s extrapolate some clues from that statement. It’s possible the company thinks it has come close to maxing out the number of subscribers looking for its signature prestige content.
In other words, HBO is not helping to bring in new people — not in the numbers WBD wants, at least — especially when the combined streaming platform will offer so much more than “The White Lotus” and “Barry” and “The House of the Dragon” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
I like HBO as a brand. Maybe you like HBO as a brand. WBD is betting we’ll keep watching (and paying) regardless of what the app is called. They’re probably right.
Instead, WBD is focusing on everyone else, i.e. potential subscribers who apparently think HBO doesn’t reflect their tastes. Hence: Max.
Whether this big swing will actually generate new sign-ups is a separate question. The company has $50 billion in debt to pay down — resulting from the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger — and it’s fair to wonder if there really are enough new subscribers on the horizon to make a dent. Time will tell.
It doesn’t mean HBO as a brand is going away. It will have its own tab on the new Max app and it sounds like it will be similar to the way Marvel exists under the Disney+ umbrella.
As for the name itself, I might have gone with Warner+.
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