Latest news with #JBPerrette
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch: HBO streaming service changing back from Max to HBO Max
May 15 (UPI) -- HBO has announced that the name of its streaming service is changing back from Max to HBO Max this summer. HBO Max is what the platform was known as when it launched in 2020, but the HBO portion of the name was dropped in 2023 as its parent company sought to give it its own identity. The company announced it is going back to its original moniker at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront presentation in New York on Wednesday. "No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content," said JB Perrette, President and CEO of Streaming. Perrette said the idea to put HBO back in the platform's name is a "testament to WBD's willingness to keep boldly iterating its strategy and approach -- leaning heavily on consumer data and insights." To celebrate the move, the company released a hilarious video of famous TV couple reunions set to Pat Benatar's classic song, "We Belong."
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.
Muscat Daily
14-05-2025
- Business
- Muscat Daily
HBO Max is back: Warner Bros. Discovery to revert streaming service name
Max brand to be retired as company leans into HBO's legacy of quality After just one year under the simplified moniker Max , Warner Bros. Discovery is reversing course and bringing back the HBO Max brand, the name the streaming platform launched with in 2020. The rebrand, set to roll out this summer, was announced on Wednesday during the company's upfront presentation to advertisers in New York. Executives cited consumer sentiment, global momentum, and the enduring power of the HBO name as key drivers of the move. 'This evolution has also been influenced by changing consumer needs,' said JB Perrette, President and CEO of Global Streaming. 'No consumer today is saying they want more content — they want better content.' The move appears to be an acknowledgment that the decision to drop 'HBO' in 2023 — in an effort to broaden the platform's appeal beyond prestige television — failed to resonate with audiences. While the rebrand was never directly labelled a misstep, Warner Bros. Discovery did refer to the reversal as a sign of its willingness to 'boldly iterate' based on viewer data and real-world response. A brand built on prestige HBO has long been synonymous with quality storytelling, with recent global hits like The White Lotus and The Last of Us reinforcing its brand cachet. The HBO Max name, according to executives, better reflects the platform's unique proposition: 'content that is recognised as unique and worth paying for,' said Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content. In a candid interview, Perrette revealed that the decision to revert came after months of analysis and discussion with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. 'David said, 'The consumer always tells you whether you're right or wrong… Let's go back. That sounds like HBO,'' Perrette recounted. New look, familiar feel Subscribers may have already noticed early signs of the shift. The Max interface recently changed its colour scheme from blue to dark grey, echoing the original HBO Max aesthetic. The new logo will also revive the rounded letters first used in the 2020 branding. Despite the challenges of integrating Discovery+ content and new subscription tiers for sport and news, the streaming platform has turned a profit. Projections estimate HBO Max could surpass 150 million subscribers by 2026. Legacy meets strategy Since the $43 billion Warner Media-Discovery merger in 2022, the company has sought to find its footing in an increasingly competitive streaming landscape. While the streamlined 'Max' aimed for breadth, its return to HBO Max reflects a renewed focus on depth — and distinction. As Zaslav summed it up: 'Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate our growth in the years ahead.'
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
HBO Max sends ominous email to customers who share their accounts with friends and family
HBO 's Max is sending out unsettling emails warning users to stop letting friends and relatives mooch off of their accounts. The popular streaming service, which recently came under fire for rebranding yet again, has been playing watchdog with its subscribers - silently monitoring if more people are using an account than there should be. Still technically known as Max, as the official name change back to HBO Max is set for this summer, the platform has been issuing reminders that only people in the same house can share an account. 'Looks like you're sharing your Max account,' the email, which was sent and reviewed by on Wednesday, says in bold. 'It appears that you may be sharing your Max account with people you don't live with.' The message then urges users to purchase an add-on that allows more people to use their account to watch top shows such as The White Lotus. According to the Max help center, 'accounts are intended for the account owner (the person who created the account) and the people they live with.' 'If you don't live with the account owner, you need to sign up for your own Max account.' While some subscribers may be taken aback by the seemingly targeted notice, Max's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) admitted it is mostly just for show - at least for now. 'It's very soft messaging that will start getting firmer and more visible to subscribers over the months to come,' WBD's global streaming CEO, JB Perrette, said last Thursday on a company call, according to Business Insider. Perrette asserted these reprimands will get more harsh by the end of the year or early 2026. Max was the last of the prominent streaming services to fight back against freeloaders, first announcing its plans in May last year. The pivot was comparable to what Netflix did in 2023 - allowing account holders to add extra members for a cost. But to make it better value, the price of extra people is lower than a whole new subscription. In November 2024, WBD's finance chief Gunnar Wiedenfels also said the implementation of the policy that has left many viewers furious would begin with 'very soft messaging.' This 'messaging,' such as the above email, encourages members who share accounts with other households to 'pay a little bit more,' Wiedenfels explained. A basic Max subscription with advertisements costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 each year. The standard plan without commercials is $16.99 each month or $169.99 for the year, while the premium plan is a monthly $20.99 or yearly $209.99. To add an extra member to any plan, it costs $7.99, according to Max's website. After the slow and steady technique, the company said it will take more extreme action - like Perrette mentioned - such as limiting access to users within a single household. Even though that phase has yet to be entered, subscribers have expressed outrage at HBO's 'greed' and called out the eerie emails as 'stupid.' In a Reddit thread from about five months ago, someone shared an email they got from Max, stating the account was being used by too many people. Instead of offering an upgrade, the platform told the subscriber to reset their password. 'Woke up to this email today. I am sharing my account with family and we live all over the country had to break down the bad news to everyone,' they wrote. The comment section went up in flames - with many of the more than 100 angry TV lovers claiming Max was only bluffing. 'I got an email and ignored it. So far so good,' one Redditor said. 'If my family gets kicked off, I'm cancelling.' 'They've removed and cancelled tons of great content, raised process, unnecessarily rebranded twice, and still haven't fixed their broken app, and now they're cracking down on password sharing? No f**king way, HBO,' they added. Another chimed in: 'First they show ads on the ad free version and now they're ending password sharing? Damn greed ruining the good things.' 'This is such a stupid way to crack down on this. Disney+ lets you get a code, so does Netflix. Now you have to go through multiple steps if you are away from home on vacation and logged in a different device. 'This is a pretty stupid crackdown attempt since you can just change the password and keep on going no?' one person pointed out. WBD announced the streaming service Max will return to its original name, HBO Max, in the summer on Wednesday. The network revealed the shock reversal at its star-studded Upfront event on Wednesday, and even joked that they can't wait to hear talk show hosts like John Oliver poke fun at the overhaul. The change comes just two years after HBO Max changed its name to just Max. Speaking at the event held at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Wednesday, Shauna Spenley, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Direct-to-Consumer, said: 'You're probably thinking, wow, these guys love to rebrand. 'Well, you know, it's been about two years so that's roughly our track record, so right now is probably the right time.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nina Metz: Streaming platform Max is changed back to HBO Max. It's like deja vu all over again
In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery merged HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming app called Max, with the puzzling decision to remove the HBO from the streaming app's brand. Surprise, almost exactly two years later, the company is reversing course and returning to the HBO Max name. Here's how the press announcement is finessing the flip-flop: '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.' So trashing a respected brand, only to realize 'whoops, bad idea,' is now 'boldly iterating' their 'strategy and approach.' That sounds a lot like business school baloney, but you'd think with all the MBAs that surely make up the executive ranks that someone could have foreseen the problems of a pointless rebrand. Back in 2023, the company's streaming chief JB Perrette said that lopping off 'HBO' from the streamer's name meant Warner Bros. Discovery would be able to 'better elevate and showcase our unparalleled array of other content and brands that will be key to broadening the appeal of this enhanced product.' My theory? They worried viewers who gravitate to the more downmarket Discovery content were turned off by the prestige sheen associated with HBO, and more likely to sample HBO shows if they were accessing them through just-Max. Guessing that didn't pan out. And at least this repurposed meme below, provided by WBD, acknowledges the humor (ridiculousness?) of the back and forth. The business prerogatives of streaming often leave me scratching my head. Some shows from WBD ('Succession,' 'The White Lotus,' 'The Last of Us') are HBO shows, and are available to watch both on the company's cable channel and its streaming app. Other shows ('Hacks,' 'The Pitt') are Max shows and are only available via streaming. By the way, if you're an HBO cable subscriber, that also grants you free access to the streamer. (The costs of a cable and streaming subscription are roughly the same for a standard package). So why the distinction? Who knows? What are audiences supposed to make of this distinction? Who knows? Will WBD realize this is yet another confusing choice and make all of its original HBO shows available to anyone who is forking over money to the company each month? My final question that will inevitably be left unanswered: How much was spent to rebrand HBO Max as Max … and now back again? Whatever the figure, I'm sure it's cold comfort to anyone who has been laid off from the company in the last two years. For anyone keeping score, WBD CEO David Zaslav's annual pay went up in 2024, with a total package worth nearly $52 million. ——— (Nina Metz is a Chicago Tribune critic who covers TV and film.) ——— Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
