Max Reverts Back to "HBO Max" in New Name Change
Long live HBO Max.
Summary
- Max is slated to rebrand back to HBO Max this summer
- The announcement comes just two years after HBO was dropped for the singular Max branding
- Warner Bros. Discovery believes that returning to the original branding will help further drive success
This summer, Max is rebranding back to HBO Max just after two years of switching over. During this time, while HBO and Max have had separate commercial brandings, they still competed at industry awards under the “HBO/Max” label. The change was originally made when Warner Bros. Discovery dropped the “HBO” to make the streamer’s name just “Max.”
The announcement of the reversing the branding comes also just less than two months after Max debuted its newly tweaked logo in the classic black-and-white color scheme. In the official press release, WBD shared that “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.” This is despite revealing the new logo to ad execs prior to the announcement.
CEO David Zaslav spoke to the audience in the Theater at Madison Square Garden of reverting back to the previous branding, “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.” Their flip-flop on the naming has inevitably confused consumers, and the social media team has been on high alert to ensure that consumers with any questions would be answered. The team has also taken to X to poke fun at the reverse branding, even calling it a “Reverse Uno” affect.
Update:
HBO IS A PREMIUM CABLE NETWORK. MAX IS A STREAMING SERVICE THAT HOUSES CONTENT FROM MANY BRANDS INCLUDING HBO. ALL HBO SERIES STREAM ON MAX BUT MAX SERIES DO NOT AIR LIVE ON HBO. BOTH ARE OWNED BY WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY WHICH PLANS TO REBRAND MAX BACK TO HBO MAX. https://t.co/AJOueL40PY
— Max (@StreamOnMax) May 14, 2025
