HBO Max rebrands to Max to boost subscriber count with Harry Potter series and Originals

Warner Bros. Discovery has rebranded its streaming service, HBO Max, to Max in an effort to bolster its programming lineup and attract more subscribers, according to a statement by the brand.

Max is Warner Bros.' enhanced streaming service which will launch in US on 23 May and Latin America later in the year. It will include the expansive suite of Warner Bros' offerings such as Warner Bros. films, Max Originals, the DC universe and more.

Alongside the rebrand, HBO will be introducing new titles such as a new Harry Potter series, a comedy series derived from The Big Bang Theory, a Game of Thrones prequel, a drama series based off The Conjuring films and more. 

The rebrand comes as Warner Bros.' CEO, David Zaslav noted that HBO's subscriber count has been struggling due to its association with high pricing, according to Bloomberg. Zaslav added that he aims to alter this with the rebrand by putting the streaming platform on a level playing field with its competitors. 

Zaslav also added that he merged Discovery Communications with the parent of Warner Bros. studios to better compete against platforms like Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. 

In a statement, JB Perrette, president and CEO, global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery said that Max will offer an unrivalled range of choice, "from the biggest superheroes to real life champions- from culture-shaping dramas to taste-shaping entertainment; from fantastical realms to the realest of worlds."

“This new brand signals an important change from two narrower products, HBO Max and discovery+, to our broader content offering and consumer proposition. While each product offered something for some people, Max will have a broad array of quality choices for everybody,” he continued. 

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Premium video services have been a hot topic for a while now and in SEA, growth of these services accelerated in the second half of 2022, reaching almost 48.4 million subscribers, according to Media Partners Asia’s (MPA) latest report, titled SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics. The report covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The report also stated that there were almost 4.6 million new paying customers in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 11.8 million new customers across the whole year. SEA added 2.5 million net new subscribers in Q3 2022 to reach 43.5 million total subscriptions. Across the five SEA markets Disney, Netflix and Viu take the top three positions with highest number of paying customers and a combined market share of 52%.

 Amazon Prime Video’s localisation efforts in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand had robust early traction, with 400,000 net adds. The report notes Indonesia to be the strongest market in SEA for Prime Video, where its momentum is driven by marketing around Korean and local titles.

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