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Business Insider
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Tech companies want humans to help level up AI models. What's your price for training them?
Happy almost Friday! It's not TV. It's HBO, HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO Max, Max, HBO Max. The TV brand that brought us "The Sopranos" and "Sex and The City" is rebranding its streamer … again. BI's Peter Kafka has more on all the flip-flopping and why, jokes aside, it's acknowledgment of a deal gone bad. (At least HBO is leaning into the joke.) In today's big story, Meta will pay you $50 an hour to help make its avatars more realistic. Which begs the bigger question: How much would you need to be paid to train AI on something you're good at? What's on deck Markets: The US-China trade deal doesn't mean investors are out of the woods yet. Business: The job market might be the biggest risk no one's talking about. But first, lending a helping hand to AI. If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. The big story Train and gain Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Want to make a quick $50? Just say "Cheese." Meta is paying $50 an hour to record people's facial expressions and small talk to bolster its virtual avatars, writes BI's Effie Webb. It's part of the tech giant's massive bet that the metaverse is the future. Meta's recruiting adults to make its virtual reality avatars as realistic as possible and create a social environment that is "indistinguishable from reality" during virtual interactions. That sounds exhilarating or terrifying, depending on where you sit on the technology adoption scale. What's not up for debate is that plenty of this type of work is going around. Across the tech world, companies are hiring humans to train AI models to act more … human. Tesla previously paid up to $48 an hour to people training its humanoid robots. Meta also has contractors monitoring how "flirty" its chatbots get. The humanization of AI is turning into a nice side hustle for those willing to put in the hours. One woman told BI she made $8,000 in three weeks training AI after hours. But it's not always easy work. Sometimes it can involve stress-testing AI with "harmful" prompts, as Effie previously reported. Sharing your smile is one thing, since most of us don't get paid to flash our pearly whites. (Don't worry. I still think you look great.) But what about training AI on something you're good enough to get paid to do? On the one hand, you could probably demand a higher rate for teaching AI a somewhat proprietary skill. On the other hand, are the short-term gains worth the long-term risks that could come with AI eventually being better at the task than you? Simply put: Do you want to be the turkey setting the table for Thanksgiving? Let me know what you think. They say everyone has a price. What's yours for teaching AI your secret sauce? 3 things in markets Reuters / Lucas Jackson 1. The S&P 500 just flashed an optimistic technical signal. The index moved above its 200-day moving average, which has historically signaled a positive long-term trend. LPL Financial's technical analyst said it could spell a bottom for the market. 2. And Wall Street's fear is subsiding. The index known as Wall Street's fear gauge saw its fastest-ever drop from April 10 to May 12; Wall Street's breathing easy now that the US and China have dialed down tariffs. The index had peaked when fears were high right after Liberation Day. 3. But investors might be declaring tariff victory too early. The US-China deal to temporarily reduce tariffs on Chinese imports to 30% pushed the S&P 500 up 3.2%. However, investors might be getting ahead of themselves for a variety of reasons. 3 things in tech 1. Tariffs have taken a toll on TikTok's US e-commerce business. Four TikTok staffers told BI they attribute the drop-off in US sales to tariffs, which have created cost headaches for merchants. It's one of the many setbacks the social media platform has experienced this year. 2. Waymo just got another recall headache. The company issued a software recall for more than 1,200 robotaxis after several of its cars were involved in barrier collisions, according to a report filed with a federal safety agency. It's Waymo's third recall in over a year, though the last two were voluntary. 3. Amazon robots won't take your job, but they might end the need for it. Amazon said it sees warehouse robots as crucial to "flattening" its hiring curve, according to an internal document obtained by BI. It suggests Amazon could use robots to slow the rate of new hiring rather than replace existing workers. 3 things in business 1. The job market is on the brink of collapse. While unemployment remains historically low, things may not be as tranquil as they seem, writes economist Neil Dutta. From fewer job openings to the uncertainty surrounding Trump's trade upheaval, signs are pointing to higher unemployment and a weaker job market. 2. Behind Ryan Coogler's deal to own "Sinners." The director behind the box-office sensation struck a rare deal with Warner Bros., giving him the rights to "Sinners" in 2050. A veteran entertainment and technology attorney spoke to BI about how Coogler could cash in. 3. The key deals struck during Trump's tour of Saudi Arabia. Companies like Nvidia and Amazon have notched some big wins while Trump has been in the Middle East. Here's a list of what's been announced, from a major chip deal to a planned Saudi AI zone. In other news Trump can't stop talking about the pushback to Qatar's Air Force One offer. We asked Grok why it was bringing up 'white genocide' in unrelated X posts. The AI's answers are messy. Uber has a new plan to get you to use its app more: Cheaper ride and delivery options. What's happening today The Business Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
Phone Arena
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Phone Arena
HBO? Max? HBO Max? The name change nobody asked for is happening again
If you watch a lot of movies or shows at home, you probably subscribe to at least one streaming service – and you've almost definitely crossed paths with HBO. Or Max. Wait, no... HBO Max… again. Yep, Warner Bros. Discovery is undoing its 2023 rebrand and bringing the old name back. Max is officially becoming HBO Max once more. In a move that is both surprising and oddly satisfying, the company says it is ditching the plain Max name and embracing the HBO identity again – the same one it dropped two years ago when it tried to appeal to a broader, family-friendly audience by bundling in content from Discovery, TLC and HGTV. Now, they are admitting what a lot of people probably already felt – HBO still matters. A lot. – David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, May 2025 Turns out, even though subscribers pay $17/month, most of them tune in for the core HBO hits — think The White Lotus, The Last of Us, plus a few new movies and documentaries. And not much else, really. HBO's streaming journey has been all over the place: HBO Go (2008), HBO Now (2015), HBO Max (2020), Max (2023) and now – back again – HBO Max (2025). It's been a bit of an identity Warner Bros. Discovery made the switch to Max, the idea was to protect the HBO brand from being diluted by all the reality TV content from Discovery. Plus, at the time, they argued that HBO was too adult-focused and might alienate viewers looking for more general, family-friendly stuff – like what Netflix instead of solving a problem, the name change just caused confusion. People didn't know if HBO was still around or being phased out. Internally and externally, it just didn't land. – JB Perrette, President and CEO of Streaming, May 2025 Meanwhile, in the bigger streaming picture, over the past few years, Netflix has pulled way ahead in the streaming wars, leaving legacy media companies scrambling to keep up. Netflix is still the leader when it comes to streaming. According to Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, Netflix grabbed around 8% of all TV watch time in March – a massive lead. In comparison, Warner Bros. Discovery managed just 1.5%, which puts it slightly above Peacock but still trailing behind Disney's streamers, Prime Video, Paramount, Roku, and even Tubi.
Business Insider
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
The history of HBO Max's ridiculously convoluted brand journey
What's old is new again. Max is now HBO Max — reversing a polarizing rebrand that happened two years ago. Warner Bros. Discovery announced its streaming service's new-ish name at its annual upfront presentation to advertisers. This is the latest entrant in a series of names for HBO's streamer. Media and advertising circles are split on its merits. The HBO Max rebrand could help restore awareness and credibility associated with HBO's storied entertainment name, said Ben Kunz, the chief strategy officer at advertiser Mediassociates. He said clients were often "puzzled" by the streamer's more generic name. "People have limited room in their head for brand names," Kunz said. "When people get confused, they fall back on 'no.' Anchoring a streaming service with all the momentum of the past of HBO, I think that will build credibility for marketers." The company says reverting to HBO Max signifies a return to its roots with a renewed focus on quality over quantity. "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," WBD streaming head JB Perrette said in a statement. But some branding experts believe that yet another name change will only create confusion. "Everybody now knows that Max is HBO Max," said Chris Rosica, the CEO of branding firm Rosica Communications. "It's a little late in the game to do that." Below is a brief history of HBO's many streaming rebrands: HBO GO (2010) HBO HBO Go debuted in 2010 and was only for linear HBO customers who were traveling or wanted to watch HBO on the go — hence the name. Smartphone adoption was rising, and tablets were starting to pop up after Apple unveiled the iPad in early 2010. HBO Now (2015) HBO Then came HBO Now, which brought shows like "Game of Thrones" to cord-cutters for the first time. Pay TV was just starting to decline from its peak as millennials opted for Netflix and Hulu, which offered on-demand shows and movies at a fraction of the cost of cable and satellite TV. HBO Max (2020) WarnerMedia, which cellphone giant AT&T ran from 2018 to 2022, launched HBO Max in 2020 during the height of the streaming wars. Its timing was excellent, as the pandemic kept the world inside, which led to a boom in streaming viewership. However, competition was fierce. HBO Max had to contend with stalwarts like Netflix and Hulu as well as compelling new entrants like Disney+, Apple TV+, Peacock, and eventually Paramount+. A purple color palette was a purposeful departure from HBO's simple but iconic black-and-white look. It was distinct and "ownable," brand strategist Lily Thaler of Design Bridge and Partners said. Max (2023) HBO's parent company had a rocky run under AT&T, which cut its losses by spinning it off in 2022. WarnerMedia then joined forces with cable company Discovery to form a new media conglomerate, which had even more exposure to the shrinking pay-TV business. Enter Warner Bros. Discovery. David Zaslav, who'd run Discovery since 2006, was looking to make a splash and shake up Hollywood. Armed with HBO's prestige fare and Discovery's guilty-pleasure shows — like "My 600-lb Life" and "Dr. Pimple Popper" — Zaslav dropped the HBO name from its streamer in hopes of being a something-for-everyone service like Netflix. This move was controversial and heavily criticized by some, though others argued the Max rebrand was necessary to protect the HBO brand. WBD marked the rebrand to Max by swapping its purple gradient for a bright blue. Patrizio "Pato" Spagnoletto, WBD's then-marketing chief, told Vulture that this change was "intending to signal not just change from HBO Max of the purple, but a much more sustainable premium version of the service." Max had mixed results. It struggled with a high cancellation rate but found success by bundling with Disney+ and Hulu. The service grew meaningfully in the last year, largely due to international expansion. Max (2025) Max WBD foreshadowed its HBO Max rebrand in late March by refreshing its blue color scheme with HBO's signature black-and-white look. "Typically, moving to black in a space where a lot of brands own color might try to signal sophistication, legacy, respectability," Thaler said. This move shows confidence, she added: "We don't need to be bright and flashy and cover all colors of the rainbow to get your attention." HBO Max (2025) This latest rebrand is WBD's clearest signal yet that it's no longer trying to contend with Netflix and is instead prioritizing profitability. WBD content chief Casey Bloys said putting the HBO brand front and center "far better represents our current consumer proposition," and positions its content as differentiated and valuable. HBO's three letters stand for high-quality, prestige programming, said Dan Green, a professor and the director of entertainment industry management at Carnegie Mellon University. "It's hard to get attention, and HBO Max — you know what you're getting," Green said. However, branding veteran Rosica said this move wasn't necessary — and could backfire. Rosica said Max already had high brand awareness, especially among younger audiences. Confusion could also emerge, as some consumers may wonder if reality TV shows from Discovery are going away, or if prices are changing. "A lot of questions will come up that really can be avoided," Rosica said. Some ad execs said they doubted the rebrand would make a difference either way. Mike McHale of Noble People said ads on WBD's streamer are still too expensive compared to its peers, given it has an audience that he thinks is reachable elsewhere. "People who watch 'The Sopranos' — they probably also watch 'The Office.' There isn't an exclusive audience of people I feel like I'm missing when I leave them off buys," McHale said. No matter what WBD calls its streamer, Thaler pointed out that it won't be able to retroactively change shortcut buttons on Roku remotes. Many of them still say "HBO Max" — albeit now in the wrong color.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Inside the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront: Branding Whiplash and 'The ‘White Lotus' Effect'
Taking a seat at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday morning, I scanned the crowd, soaking wet from the rain, and wondered how many gathered at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront had any idea that they were about to get punked. Two years after shoving the rebrand of streamer Max (née HBO Max) down advertiser throats, the 'HBO' is being surgically reattached to the platform on which the company's future hinges. Curiously, this development wasn't front-loaded in the presentation. It came 30 minutes in, after multiple mentions of 'Max,' when Casey Bloys arrived. More from The Hollywood Reporter Returning the HBO to Max Is Latest Sign of Potential Warner Bros. Discovery Split HGTV Is Going to Renovate the 'Bachelor' Mansion Warners Reverses Course: Changes Max's Name Back to HBO Max 'With the course we are on and the strong momentum we're enjoying,' said Bloys, 'we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition.' The proposition was received in the room with laughter and a smattering of 'oh wows,' though no one appeared to interpret the news as a joke. If anybody was grieving Max, they did so quietly or they skipped right to acceptance. 'The good news is I have a drawer full of stationery from the last round,' said the Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, whose title likely changed mid-presentation. 'So I'm all set.' An annual brag-fest thrown with the sole purpose of selling advertising space is an unusual venue to wave a white flag, but Bloys had fun with it — as did Max (Ahem, HBO Max) CMO Shauna Spenley. She went through her own spiel in front of a mocked-up meme of HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO Max and Max all sharing the same screen. Though Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav was notably absent from the pageantry, there was no shortage of executives. In fact, the company was the first this week to populate its presentation with more suits than actors. There was a lot of telling, not showing, especially when newly installed co-presidents of ad sales, Ryan Gould and Robert Voltaggio, frontloaded the presentation with an extended spiel about various branded initiatives: something called 'Storyverse,' an in-house studio called 'Courageous' and sales tools DemoDirect and NEO. A pre-recorded Conan O'Brien attempted to explain how the latter worked, but he took it about as seriously as expected. Are there not conference rooms and Zoom calls for this stuff? The strongest case for advertising came with the so-called 'White Lotus Effect,' which got more oxygen than any other single piece of programming. Spenley cited ample brand partnerships and noted the correlation between the show's locales with tourism booms. 'I don't want to brag, but it feels like we're building national economies out here,' she said. The screen behind Spenley switched to a tile of White Lotus tweets. One read, 'I wonder what Lachlan and Saxon are doing for National Sibling Day,' much to the room's delight. So bullish is WBD on media buyers' appetite for The White Lotus, cast members Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan and Leslie Bibb (aka 'The Big Blonde Blob') opened the show with a cute bit during which they complimented each other's skin with increasing puffery. 'Are we slipping back into character?' Asked Coon. 'Because if we are, I'm going to need a cocktail.' Me too, Carrie. But the star power diminished after that, only rebounding at the very last minute when Shaquille O'Neal joined DC's James Gunn and Peter Safran to screen the latest Superman trailer. As one of several media giants boasting a storied film studio to present this week, it was notable how little attention was paid to WBD's film slate. The stunning success of Sinners, its own movie, got more attention during Michael B. Jordan's cameo at the Amazon pitch. Instead, the presentation devoted its precious time to other matters … like CNN CEO Mark Thompson heralding the arrival of a new weather app and Tony Shalhoub (God bless him) opining for minutes on the universality of bread. After 90 minutes, there was finally time to acknowledge that Minecraft, which just grossed $1 billion at the global box office, will eventually land on HBO Max. Before the too-little-too-late nod to movies — before everything, in fact — the start of the show was heralded by someone from Actors Equity dressed up like one of those demonic nuns from the Dune movies. As people settled into their seats for what would be a nearly two-hour ordeal, her cryptic voice over promised 'a creative endeavor that will redefine what's possible' and 'a future that will lead the culture and heighten entertainment.' It was a comically lofty promise that, not unlike NBCUniversal's just two days earlier, didn't quite pan out on stage. But who am I to hate on somebody for drinking a bit too much of their own sand worm juice? Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Meet HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery renames streamer Max after two years
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is changing the name of its flagship streaming service back to HBO Max, part of a broader strategic shift designed to re-emphasize premium programming for adults. The company announced the change, which will be effective this summer, at its annual presentation to advertisers in New York on Wednesday. Leading up to the streaming service's launch in the spring of 2020, there was much internal debate about what to call it. Eventually, executives decided to name it HBO Max, a way of incorporating its storied HBO cable brand — known for popular, edgy hits from Game of Thrones to The Sopranos — while positioning the new product as a premium service that would cost more than rivals Netflix or Disney . From the outset sign-ups were sluggish, and many consumers were confused by the branding and how HBO Max differed from the company's existing streaming products, HBO Go and HBO Now. In 2023, following WarnerMedia's merger with Discovery Inc., David Zaslav, the chief executive officer of the combined companies, announced that the service would be dropping HBO from its name in favor or a more generic brand name that in theory would appeal to a broader audience. At the time, the re-branding left many observers scratching their heads. Critics derided the move, saying it jettisoned a brand famous for prestige television. Now the Max experiment is over. 'Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead,' Zaslav said in a statement Wednesday. Recently, much of the streaming service's buzz has come from popular HBO shows, including the third season of The White Lotus, which was a massive hit. HBO Max also houses brands including Harry Potter, A24 films and iconic broadcast-TV shows like Friends. Warner Bros.'s streaming business has added 22 million subscribers over the past year and the company expects to have more than 150 million by the end of 2026. At the end of the first quarter, it reported 122.3 million subscribers and an adjusted profit of $339 million.
