David Zaslav will go down as either the Grim Reaper of streaming or the heir apparent to Bob Iger. This guy walked into the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger with a can of kerosene and used the acquisition of HBO Max as a match to just torch the entire platform. Zaslav’s vision is to compete with Netflix and Disney. But first, he had to overcome WBD’s $50 billion debt load. So he started gutting their best shows and films, some after they’d already finished filming, like Batgirl. Then they bought HBO Max and gutted their best shows. None of it made any sense. And neither does this. To complete the HBO Max Discovery merger, Zaslav and his Board of Hey-Here’s-A-Thought marketing geniuses decided to drop the HBO from the name and call their streaming service Max. So now, all vestiges of the brands we’ve come to trust will be hidden from promotion. Aces.
Two years ago, the media mogul David Zaslav said he had a plan to compete with the streaming titans Netflix and Disney: Combine the scripted entertainment of HBO Max with Discovery’s library of reality and unscripted series. The goal, he said in 2021, was to be “one of the top streaming companies in the world.”
He is about to put that idea to the test.
On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery executives will unveil plans for the new combined streaming service, bringing together classic HBO series like “The Sopranos” and “Succession” with Discovery series like “Dr. Pimple Popper” and “Fixer Upper.” The service will be called Max and debut in the next month or two, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.
The streaming service will cost roughly $16 a month — the price of HBO Max now — though there will be several price tiers, including a less expensive one with advertising, the people said.
Success of the new service is crucial for Warner Bros. Discovery, which Mr. Zaslav formed last April with the blockbuster merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. He sold shareholders on the deal in part by arguing that the combined company could have a killer app.
[From New York Times via Pajiba]
I kind of understand the name. By not having Discovery or HBO in the title it eliminates the bias that the platform favors one programming over the other. I wouldn’t think to go to Discovery Max for The White Lotus, nor would my first thought be to search for Dr. Pimple Popper on HBO’D or whatever. This allows them to combine their programing into one, new, powerhouse hub and brand it with the single moniker umph that both Netflix and Disney enjoy. At least that Zaslav’s hope. It’s a bold move to remove the two brand names from the final product. This will date me, but I remember when HBO came out. You were either a Showtime house or an HBO house – only rich families could afford both in the beginning. To see HBO fade away is like telling me the nice lady up the street who baby sat me is dying, it’s hard to accept.
However, I agree with CB that HBO Max is not a great streaming service. It has great shows, if I know what I’m looking for. Browsing it is a nightmare. And the number of times it stalls right after loading is kind of ridiculous. So if Max is more user friendly, I’m okay saying goodbye. I’m also looking forward to Discovery programming, which I don’t have yet. I’m still angry at the shows Zaslav dropped. Apparently, he has a two-year plan. His goal is to take his subscribers from 96.1 million to 130 million by 2025. They also predict they will break even by next year and turn a profit in two. Again, I don’t know what hat Zaslav will wear at the end of this decade – a cap n’ bells or a crown. But all eyes are on this maniac right now.
Your first look at Colin Farrell in #ThePenguin, a new Original Series coming in 2024 to Max. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/vWbdVQt7rI
— HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023
Photo credit: HBO Max Instagram
So we have discovery plus – its great for documentaries actually. It has all the David Attenborough ones (Planet Earth, etc, including my favorite nature series, Nature’s Great Events, featuring my all time favorite nature documentary, The Great Salmon Run. I make everyone watch it lol.) It also has Prince william’s Nature documentary on it as well but I have never watched it, lmao. Anyway I think we pay 5 dollars a month for that. We get HBOMax through our cable subscription. So will we just get Max through our cable now, or am I going to have to pay for a separate service? It sounds to me like HBOMax is going to go away and it will just be Max?
I will add my hatred of the HBOMax streaming platform. We never go to it and look for shows. The format is awful. If they want to compete with Disney+ or Netflix, they need to improve the platform itself. I like Disney and Netflix bc I find them so user friendly.
I got an email from HBOMax saying my account automatically transfers over to Max, I don’t have to do anything. So I’m guessing your HBOMax will transfer to Max and you’ll cancel Discovery? Maybe?
I don’t remember why I have HBOmax. I know I got it to watch something specific but now I don’t remember.
I wore a marketing hat for a while and also got an EMBA. This plan is so dumb my guess is that there were only old people who needed their grandkids to teach them how to use Roku in the room approving it.
From a marketing perspective, this is like buying Hermes and H&M and selling both on side-by-side racks at Kohl’s. Then renaming Kohl’s “Janice” to pretend it’s a new store and not the same janky building with the crappy layout, bad design, and confusing exits.
In an era when IP is everything, why TF would you dump a brand name with a prestige history like HBO? Even worse, you lose the “it’s not TV, it’s HBO” specialness associated with HBO shows like The Sopranos when it’s just a tile next to Dr. Pimple Popper.
It’s not clear which streaming platform they’re going with but it sounds like it’s the HBO platform, which, as EVERYONE says, suuuuucckkkss. It has the worst UX of any streaming site. It’s page load time is terrible, navigation is idiotic, etc.
High-end customers will pay more for luxury. Budget conscious shoppers zero in on price. It’s marketing and pricing 101. You don’t put them together bc it sends a confusing message that turns off both groups – cheap stuff seems like less of a value, less fun. Expensive/prestige loses luster.
Netflix pulls off this Hi-Lo mix bc it didn’t have a reputation for content at first, and over time ppl associated it with the firehose streaming model -so much content and there’ll be something for you. It didn’t have the “curated” approach of legacy linear (TV/cable one show after another, linearly) brands.
Zazlov seems to want to bandwagon jump on the Netflix model. But then why cut shows like Batgirl when you need to create a firehose? Why dump the good part (HBO Brand) and keep the bad (platform) when the platform is *everything* to Netflix success? How is this good business?
The man is a clown. Sadly he’ll get his golden parachute in 2-5 years after ruining HBO and Discovery. Warner Bros was already ruined by clowns like him in the Aol Time Warner era.
I’m going to go lie down now.
I added back HBOMax through my prime account for Succession and then I’ll cancel it again.
Going with just Max is dumb. PepsiMax anyone?
This sounds confusing and disrespectful. Why not just call it HBO+? Using the popular programs of HBO, which also built up the successful marketing of HBOMax, only to drop the HBO part seems counterintuitive. “Max” just made me think of the sub par HBO sister cable service Cinemax. Their ad campaigns had better be off the charts with no expense spared bc just calling it”Max” doesn’t evoke images of HBO or Discovery and $16 with no ads is steep. Paramount+ with Showtime recently reduced their subscription to $11.99/mo.
Was Skinemax not available?
There are also reports that they took the paper archive of Warner Brothers, posters, promo materials and such, and tossed it into dumpsters. People were stopped from pulling anything out.
If true, horrendous for film history, but also foolish, because that stuff sells for big bucks.
We lost silent film history because the film stock was destroyed for the silver content or tossed to free up storage space. Just waiting to hear we’ve lost another set of films because someone wanted the hard drive space or didn’t pay the cloud bill.
WHAT?! Where did you read/hear this about the dumpsters? If true it’s horrifying and THR or Variety needs to be reporting on it.
It was someone claiming to work there. It got passed around film Twitter, so I’m assuming industry reporters saw it. We’ll find out the truth soon enough. But I saw it forwarded by reputable enough people that I feel comfortable to share it.
Have also seen people starting to refer to the new service as HBO Mid. Which needs to stick. LOL.
All they had to do is offer an annual deeply discounted subscription. Maybe even a 3 year subscrition for $5 a month. Instead this sounds like junk. A bunch of cheap badly written or casted shows for $16 a month. Not worth it.
I pay amc-the theatre $19.99 a month for their top plan. I didnt go for 6 months but still paid because i have used the service a lot. I dont see myself paying for this. The ad tier sub would have to be $3 a month for me to consider it.
As someone who’s paying for both HBO Max and Discovery+, I feel pretty good about this. I understand they’re keeping Discovery+ around as a lower tier subscription option for those who aren’t looking for the HBO content. I’m hoping that enough of the stuff that I watch will migrate over to Max that I can just cancel the Discovery app!
I agree. I’m currently paying for both so being able to cancel Discovery + will help me out in the long run.
I also agree that the current HBO Max App is garbage so I’m hoping they take this opportunity to fix that as well.