It’s been two years since HBO Max dropped the brand recognition of HBO to just be ‘Max’, and while everyone thought it was a bad idea from the beginning, it looks like someone at the HBO offices finally understood what everyone else meant when they were saying that the rebrand was a dumb move.
According to Deadline, WB Discovery’s president of Streaming JB Perette has admitted that the rebrand never really stuck for Max, and it was David Zaslav who suggested that they just take a step back and re-introduce ‘HBO’ to the title. Perrette said:
“… Reality is, David said, look, the consumer always tells you whether you’re right or wrong. And in that context, why don’t you go back? That sounds like HBO. Let’s be bold and make the right decision for our business at a moment of great strength… David was a great champion of saying, we should go back to including HBO in the brand, because nothing stands for distinction and quality more than HBO.”
While everyone online has been doing a collective ‘We Told You So’, the HBO Max socials have apparently just been having fun with the announcement, reposting memes and making snazzy remarks—exactly what you want out of a Twitter social media team. Here are some of the posts:
https://t.co/8tVJeFyUEP pic.twitter.com/gLseZE8ack
— Max (@StreamOnMax) May 14, 2025
A name reclaimed. pic.twitter.com/PG6ycGaFwK
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) May 14, 2025
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
Rolls off the tongue. pic.twitter.com/2YCuH9HhHV
— Max (@StreamOnMax) May 14, 2025
They’ve even called out X and is challenging them to ‘de-brand’ into Twitter again:
Your move, @X. https://t.co/rmYZovUkEN
— Max (@StreamOnMax) May 14, 2025
For now, HBO still remains to be a trusted brand when it comes to quality television, and recent series like The Last of Us, The Penguin, and Hacks have been a testimony to that.
We don’t know how long HBO Max is going to stick around this time, but at least someone finally came to their senses.
