HBO Max Name Returns After Two Years as Max

[ApAx]

While all that is true, not many people equate quality and value to Discovery/TLC/HGTV/Cartoon Network. If I had a conglomeration of several brands, I would lead with the best one, and the ones associated with “My 600lb Life” and the downfall of what was great documentary content and is now garbage (Discovery) aren’t it.

Agreed. Discovery and TLC used to be the go-to channels on cable for science, nature, and how-to. It's a shame they have just become "reality" trash dumps.

I got Discovery+ for the quick moment it existed to rewatch Mythbusters, and hoped they would have other quality content I could watch while I was paying for it, but I was mistaken.

 

[PhoenixDown]

Most people don't associate Ben10, 90 Day Fiance, and Fixer to Fabulous with HBO. The mistake wasn't changing the name to MAX, it was merging the different D+ and HBOmax platforms into one, instead of offering them separately but also as a bundle.

Disney has the right approach with different portals for Marvel, Star Wars, etc etc etc. WarnerDiscovery should have done the same thing. Not sure what they should have called this but Max was fine for that.

 

[DrRadon]

Can you imagine a manager somewhere in that company got payed a f ton of money to come up with the change to max while absolutely everybody on the planet knew it was a terrible idea. It's just so wild how thinking in these ivory towers sometimes ends up being.

 

[Saturn1217]

Because the service is a mix of WB/HBO/Discovery Network content. The overwhelming majority of the service is Discovery/TLC/HGTV/Cartoon Network shows, which really don't fit with the HBO branding and image. HBO originals are the smallest catalogue of shows on the platform.

Most people don't associate Ben10, 90 Day Fiance, and Fixer to Fabulous with HBO. The mistake wasn't changing the name to MAX, it was merging the different D+ and HBOmax platforms into one, instead of offering them separately but also as a bundle.

I would argue most people do not remember what HBO originally was branded as at this point. (I’m old and remember when HBO was a channel and I still don’t really remember). It is just another streaming service and it makes perfect sense for everything that HBO Max offers to just be called HBO.

 

[heisalso]

"something distinct and great" rather than trying to be "everything for everyone."

This, in a nutshell, sums up everything wrong with Hollywood at the moment. Executives have been too focused on marketing, universal appeal, and profits over everything else, rehashing franchises from decades ago, rather than taking risks on new ideas and stories.

Hollywood needs to get back to its roots of high risk, high reward. Sinners, Barbie, Oppenheimer -- all new stories that made hundreds of millions of dollars. Audiences want something distinct and great!

 

[webkit]

Hear me out.

What about "HBO"?

I know. Mind blowing.

What about just HBO? WTH.

I think they should just call it HBO, I don't think Max adds much to it in this more digital streaming age.

The app has more than just HBO content. Calling it HBO Max (or similar) makes more sense if it's going to continue to have content beyond just HBO.

 

[webkit]

I would argue most people do not remember what HBO originally was branded as at this point. (I’m old and remember when HBO was a channel and I still don’t really remember). It is just another streaming service and it makes perfect sense for everything that HBO Max offers to just be called HBO.

HBO television channels still exist. Calling the app just HBO wouldn't make sense if it continues to have content beyond just HBO (TV).

 

[Charles50]

 

[unsui_grep]

Max should be the streaming service that bundle's their different brands–HBO being their flagship. Let all their other WB/Discovery brands be distinct content under on umbrella service. Let each brand be distinct and focus on their strengths without tainting or cheapening their premiere services. If they want to have Max Original shows that can't be found on traditional cable, great! They can experiment with screwing with HBO programming and reputation. This type of brand bundling actually fits with the Max brand, while rhyming with the Cinemax, which I assume still lives on traditional cable.

Disney should do the same. Now that they have sole ownership of Hulu, make that the umbrella service/app that houses their brands–Marvel, SW, NatGeo, Pixar, FX, ESPN, etc. Keeps their programming distinct without deluding or confusing content. Hulu originals could work as well.

 

[Scottoichi]

I never understood the change to begin with. They took one of the most recognizable acronyms around, "HBO", and just ...dropped it. Nobody is gonna recognize "max" lol

HBO isn't an acronym, it's a form of initialism. An acronym spells out a word, like RADAR or SCUBA.

 

[shakopeemn]

HBO isn't an acronym, it's a form of initialism. An acronym spells out a word, like RADAR or SCUBA.

Intialism!

 

[msackey]

So dumb.

I believe it was right here in this forum that a number of us chided the company for being so silly as to remove the HBO portion of the name. HBO is what people recognize and know. Who the hell knows what Max, alone, is associated with.

 

[macduke]

Pretty sure most of us on the forums said this was stupid when it was first announced. Kinda crazy that it took them this long. I think it's because they were falling off but it's probably not just because of the name change, but the name change certainly didn't help and really hurt the brand.

 

[veggiespam]

You should have seen the internal Slack channels over this. There was definitely ... let me phrase it as "a non consensus".

I kept my HBO Max launch day blanket, but donated the "Max" one away.

 

[Complex757]

How much money did they waste on the change and return for a name change that never made sense in the first place.

 

[ehrens]

To be fair, HBO Go and HBO Now were technically two separate products. HBO Go was the TVE app that allowed for linear channel viewing and came with the HBO CATV subscription, and HBO Now was the original name for the OTT app that is now HBO Max.

The streaming service has now cycled through HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO, HBO Max, Max, and back to HBO Max again.

Article Link: HBO Max Name Returns After Two Years as Max

 

[Bill Anon]

What fools they are

 

[zarmanto]

To be fair, HBO Go and HBO Now were technically two separate products. HBO Go was the TVE app that allowed for linear channel viewing and came with the HBO CATV subscription, and HBO Now was the original name for the OTT app that is now HBO Max.

While this is true, it was always rather a pointless distinction, since the two apps served essentially the same content -- you were simply steered to use one or the other depending upon how you paid for that content. I'm sure that all had to do with their legacy media licensing deals and big media desperately trying to fight against the a-la-carte business models that "cable cutters" desperately wanted... but those two variants existing at the same time instead of sequentially arguably made this whole naming issue more convoluted and confusing, rather than less.

Of note, though... Warner Bros/Discovery owns both HBO and Cinemax. I find myself wondering if perhaps they tried to leverage heavily into the "Max" naming in order to highlight the brand (and content) that they assumed had the broader appeal -- except that Cinemax content continues to this day to be licensed out to multiple other streaming services.

So, my wild speculation is that they had planned on bringing all of that content exclusively into the "Max" streaming service, but they either concluded that the existing licensing deals were more profitable, or they discovered that cancelling those licensing deals was... untenable. Either way, renaming it back to HBO Max (and yes, maybe eventually to just HBO) when that effort failed was really the only logical choice left, at this point.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just a schlub with access to Google and only slightly better than average Google-fu.

 

[ehrens]

While this is true, it was always rather a pointless distinction, since the two apps served essentially the same content -- you were simply steered to use one or the other depending upon how you paid for that content. I'm sure that all had to do with their legacy media licensing deals and big media desperately trying to fight against the a-la-carte business models that "cable cutters" desperately wanted... but those two variants existing at the same time instead of sequentially arguably made this whole naming issue more convoluted and confusing, rather than less.

Both apps offered the same on-demand content, but Go was differentiated in that it also allowed you to stream the linear channels, being a TVE app. Also, Go was only available thru your TV provider using that set of credentials. Now was one of the first apps to have a standalone subscription, but in the beginning you couldn't use your TVE credentials to sign into it. Thankfully they got away from that complexity, but Paramount and Disney are still in similar situations with their Plus OTT apps and their TVE apps (Comedy Central, Disney XD, Nick, etc.) where the TVE apps offer a linear option but only work with cable company credentials.

 

[picpicmac]

marking the end of a widely criticized two-year experiment.

Now if they would only undo the whole "WBD" merger experiment.

 

[dandeco]

Now if they would only undo the whole "WBD" merger experiment.

I agree, this merger has been one big mess. As for the name going back to "HBO Max", this is part of emphasizing the service more toward adults, which is why they've been purging kids' content left and right (including the classic Looney Tunes, numerous Cartoon Network shows, they didn't even renew the license to stream "Sesame Street", so Netflix got the latter). I've discussed how bad this merger was in a bunch of vlogs now...

 

[svish]

Constantly changing. Will be great if they can stick to one. Will not be surprised if there is another change sometime in the future.

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

This app went from one of the standout best streaming apps on Apple TV, to absolute garbage in no time flat. When did we all decide that static categories of content weren't desirable? Did I miss a meeting?

 

[zarmanto]

When did we all decide that static categories of content weren't desirable? Did I miss a meeting?

Yup. You totally missed the meeting where that outside consulting firm advised that making content easy to discover means that more people watch that content. More people discovering and watching random content costs the company more money. It's a lot cheaper to just have that content sitting idly on a hard drive... so the decision was made that it should be next to impossible to actually watch all but the crappiest content. Because if people are just watching crappy content, they're less likely to bother watching all of the episodes, thereby saving more money! Aren't consulting firms simply fantastic at saving money, so that they can justify spending so much money on their services?

...

What? Too jaded?