Warner Bros. Discovery says that the Max streaming platform will rename HBO Max – the name he had until 2023.
Jakub Porzycki / Nurphoto via Getty Images
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Jakub Porzycki / Nurphoto via Getty Images
The streaming service formerly known as HBO Max will again be called HBO Max.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced on Wednesday that it would soon put the “HBO” in the name, two years – and a lot of criticism – after abandoning it.
“The return of the HBO brand to HBO Max will further advance the service and will amplify the unique character that subscribers can expect from the offer,” he said in a statement.
After Warnermedia and Discovery’s 2022 merger, Inc., the leaders hoped that the name “max” would reflect a wider mixture of programming and report more family content.
But the change has never really made its way, even as popular HBO originals like The white lotus And The last of us Dominated the speech and leads people on the platform – Warner Bros. Discovery says he added 22 million subscribers in the past year. He hopes that the change of brand, scheduled for this summer, will be based on this momentum.
“It is also a testimony to WBD’s desire to continue to itter with audacity with its strategy and its approach – based strongly on consumer data and ideas – to position itself as best for success,” said the press release.
The announcement was welcomed with a considerable mockery on social networks – notably the stream itself.
Max has updated his biography on X (whom many people still call Twitter) to “These anchors are trying to kill me”, a reference to one of his successful programs. Then he had a series of memes tweet that laugh at his own identity crisis and his public reaction.
He turned to some of his most recognizable names to take stock – from a GIF of Julia Louis -Dreyfus in Veep to a reaction of The Pitt Star Noah Wyle has a video montage of various celebrities has publicly struggled to get on board with “Max”.
While the name change of 2023 was preceded by an increase in prices – Max plans are basically $ 9.99 per month at $ 20.99 – The Company has not announced any modification of price or subscription levels this time. It is said of the platform: “Same application, new name”.
How we got here
The streaming service has gone through several names over the years, long before this “unlocking”.
It has its roots in the HBO cable cable station – Home Box Office – which was founded in 1972 and offered uncoupped and commercial films.
HBO has grown over the years and, in the late 1990s, began to experiment with original programming. He struck gold with Sopranos – a broadcast broadcast of the television revolution – and strikes like The thread And Sex and city. The cultural mastodon has also established additional channels, such as the HBO family and Latino HBO.
In 2010, he launched HBO Go, an internet streaming service automatically accessible to cable subscribers. Five years later, he came HBO now, an autonomous streaming service without a necessary cable subscription.
They were finally withdrawn in HBO Max 1.0, which was launched in May 2020. At that time, AT&T had acquired the parent company of HBO, Timewarner, in a controversial merger of $ 85 billion. The new streaming platform therefore included not only HBO emissions, but a programming of the Warner Bros. Studio movie, from the Turner family of wired networks and even from the complete library of the Japanese animation house studio Ghibli, among others.
The change of mark from May 2023 to Max was widely turned, with confused criticisms both by the separation of HBO and a Glitchy technological deployment.
At the end of March of this year, the company changed the maximum shiny blue and white logo – a reminder of the original HBO brand and perhaps a signal that the brand would change once again. In a large part of the Internet, this new reversal is both a cervical boost and a welcome course correction.
“With the course on which we hold and the strong momentum that we appreciate, we think that HBO Max represents our current consumption proposal much better,” Casey Bloys, president and CEO of HBO and Max Content, said WBD on Wednesday.
According to The Hollywood ReporterThe public responded with laughter and palpable approval, while Bloys recognized the round trips.
“The good news is that I have a drawer full of stationery of the last round,” he said. “So I’m ready.”
Rebrands have a moment
Many other companies have embarked on recent annexes, whether by modifying their logo, their layout – as Netflix announced, another streaming platform, earlier this month – or their name.
Consider Facebook to change its name to meta in 2021, and Twitter Rebranding under the name X in 2023 – as Max recognized in a tweet: “Your move, @x.”
Last year, after more than a century, Campbell Soup Company abandoned the “soup” of its name. Dunkin ‘, which has long been on a basis of the first name with many customers, officially abandoned “donuts” in 2019. The previous year, weight observers have become WW.
Allen Adamson, co-founder of the Metaforce marketing consulting firm, told NPR at the time that companies are strengthened to remain relevant.
“People find donuts and not the healthiest thing or the weight that does not look as interesting as before,” he said. (Weight Watchers has filed an record this month.)
Many companies we know today have started with completely different names. Nike was formerly Blue Ribbon Sports, Pepsi-Cola started while Brad’s Drink and Subway was founded as a super-sous-marine from Pete.
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