One of the most obvious failures in recent rebranding would have to be HBO’s short-lived conversion to just ‘Max’.
In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that its HBO Max streaming service would be rebranded as simply ‘Max’. It was a confusing decision that never really caught on that much, many wondering why give up the value of the HBO brand name.
Then, in May this year, Warner Bros. Discovery announced Max would be renamed once again – this time going back to the original ‘HBO Max’. Speaking to reporters at HBO Max’s 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.
As a result, the return to the HBO Max name was all about getting back to HBO’s original mission statement – quality over quantity. He tells THR:
“To Netflix’s credit, as the first mover, they have become a utility for consumers. In retrospect, we can all see that the streaming industry’s race for volume, years ago, found many brands losing their identity.
[Netflix] is the basic cable of today, and in today’s world, consumers still want to add to their entertainment portfolio with must-have, truly unique programming that only we can deliver.
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’re 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.
Another issue was confusion between HBO series like “The Penguin” and “The Last of Us” with Max originals like “Doom Patrol,” “Raised by Wolves,” and “Peacemaker”. With the reversion, that’s been cleared up a bit:
“I 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.”
HBO Max and Discovery+ have between them over 125 million global subscribers as of late 2025.
