HBO Max is back from the dead! The announcement was made this morning during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation in New York.

Many of us could have saved Warner Bros. Discovery the time. The previous rebranding was completely unnecessary. It was terrible for tagging the company on social media, especially Facebook. For instance, HBO Max shows up but when you try tagging Max, many people show up before you were even able to tag Max, if at all. I’m so glad to see that WBD has come to their senses. The HBO brand had meaning. What’s the first thing that people think of when they think of Max? Not a streaming service.

WBD’s streaming business has incredible momentum, turning around its profitability by almost $3B in just two years and scaling globally with 22M subscribers added over the past year, with a clear path to over 150M+ by the end of 2026. This is thanks to an enormous amount of hard work, investment and re-focusing the strategy on the programming that is working best like HBO, recent box-office movies, docuseries, certain reality series, and Max and local originals, and de-prioritizing other genres that drive less engagement or acquisition.

This evolution has also been influenced by changing consumer needs, and the fact that no consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content. With other services filling the more basic needs with volume, WBD has clearly distinguished itself through its quality and distinct stories, and no brand has done that better and more consistently over 50+ years than HBO.

Returning the HBO brand into HBO Max will further drive the service forward and amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect from the offering. It is also a testament to WBD’s willingness to keep boldly iterating its strategy and approach – leaning heavily on consumer data and insights – to best position itself for success.

David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said: “The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming. Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead.”

During the WBD Upfront on stage at Madison Square Garden, JB Perrette, President and CEO of Streaming, and Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, provided further details on the upcoming change.

Perrette: “We will continue to focus on what makes us unique – not everything for everyone in a household, but something distinct and great for adults and families. It’s really not subjective, not even controversial – our programming just hits different.”

Bloys: “With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition. And it clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for.”

HBO Max is the premier global streaming platform from Warner Bros. Discovery that delivers the most unique and captivating stories, ranging from the highest quality in scripted programming, movies, documentaries, true crime, adult animation, and live sports and news (where available). HBO Max is the destination for prestigious entertainment brands such as HBO, Warner Bros., Max Originals, DC, Harry Potter, A24 Films, as well as iconic shows like Friends and The Big Bang Theory, all in one place.

Our long national nightmare–well, one of them if we’re being honest–is finally over.

HBO Max returns this summer.

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