Max, formerly HBO Max, to become HBO Max again somehow
https://www.polygon.com/tv/599125/max-rebrand-hbo-max-againOpen linkView original on lemmy.world711
Comments102https://www.polygon.com/tv/599125/max-rebrand-hbo-max-againOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
Companies that reach a certain critical mass really truly become incompetent. I don't mean just evil or profit first, I mean simply incompetent at the most basic aspects of running a business. There are marketing departments that behave as if the entire team is composed of interns frantically googling marketing slang.
Warner Bros, Hasbro, Apple, they're carried by the inertia of their gigantic size and the customers that were alive to have moulded their vision about the company during their good years.
It's by design.
The guy who creates a game studio to make his own game understands everything about making it.
The AAA studio that buys them out kinda understands games but care more about profit than any individual IP, so the game suffers.
The giant corporation that buys the AAA studio doesn't give a fuck about games in general because it's a small slice of a giant pie. They use the CEO position there as a training spot for executives that don't understand anything about games.
It applies to any industry, but no one can out bid the giant corporations and they have to keep buying stuff up to maintain profit increases.
Eventually they'll cannabilze everything till there's 2-3 options then eventually just one.
They don't even need to reach critical mass. The last place I was at was a shitshow held together by a handful of overachievers. At every level there were idiots making decisions and protecting friendly mouth-breathers. And when we would contact the Big Players in the industry, it was much the same on their end. It got to the point where I had to remind people that just because you're calling Big Name Brand, the person you're talking to is you. And they report to Dave (the know-nothing manager we all worked under). Nobody has a fucking clue. So cut the person on the other end of the line some slack.
Number must go up. Forever and ever.
Seems like at about 5000 employees is when HR becomes the thing that drives so many decisions that don’t matter. And from there it’s all downhill.
Or they just want to pay their bills like everyone else
Can't wait for everyone to call it "HBO Max, formerly known as HBO Max".
The channel formerly formerly known as HBO MAX.
The channel currently and formerly known as HBO Max
The channel currently and formerly known as HBO Max and formerly not known as HBO Max
HBO Max formerly Max formerly HBO Max formerly HBO Now formerly HBO Go.
Edit: I forgot one.
Are they gonna bring back all the quality content they removed to replace it with reality TV?
Because that's what's dropping subscribers, no one cares about the name.
They also removed 4k from the standard package while continuing to boost prices multiple times, and also filling it with sports I have no interest in. Combined with the fact the app continued to run awfully on Android TV, it made it a really easy decision to cancel
I agree with this statement but have to add The Pitt has been some of the best television I have seen in a few years. So i have hope that is the case.
I hate to say it, but I've been seeing those stupid banner ads while watching South Park and the premise at the very least seems interesting for The Pitt, I know absolutely nothing else though
Give it a watch. I binged the entire show in 2-3 days when I had COVID a couple months ago
That last part has never been a part of the HBO business model.
I had a survey from them where I answered that dropping HBO from their branding was the second stupidest fucking decision they've made since Zaslav became CEO. Second only to removing legacy content and canning complete movies for tax purposes. That was maybe a month and change ago.
Nice. You did it!!!
Somehow, HBO Max returned.
They canceled all the good shows and replaced them with "reality" tv slop. No one gives a fuck what you call a trash fire, it is still a trash fire.
Trash Fire MAX
Common Side Effects is not slop
Yes, the one show I would pay to have HBO Max to have but I don’t because I’m a dirty pirate and got tired of paying them $20 a month
It never stopped being HBO Max to me.
/it's OK to deadname non-human entities
Inb4 it turns just to HBO and then a nameless entity. It has no name. It just exists. Like death.
A streaming service has no name.
smack
The streaming service formerly known as...
That's the Disney Channel (death of a career)
Logo designers without much talent not originality must make a living, too.
Everybody's been calling it HBO the entire god damned time!
HBO was the better name. And even Cinemax is a better name than Max.
I kept calling it HBO Max after the first change.
Most CEOs of entertainment companies are just people with business degrees who wish they were creative, but just aren't.
The problem is they don't ever stop paying the marketing team. Eventually you don't need more marketing and yet. Gestures around. Just hire a PR team for fucks sake.
Is it just a complicated form of embezzlement? You have some unqualified fucks put stock video clips and mindless musack together in windows movie maker so you have an excuse to pay them way too much? The marketting department sure as shit isn't helping the product's marketting.
HBO objected to HBO Max, so it was rebranded to Max. Now the top HBO execs have left so they’re changing it back.
Ah. I see. Guess I assumed they were part of the same company. Thanks.
They’re different divisions of WBD. HBO is a premium cable channel that focuses on high-end productions, while Max is a general streaming service.
If they really want customers back
Justice for infinity train. I want zaslavs head
Can't be done, blame Mojo jojo
More westworld yes please
That would cost them money. Changing their name costs them almost nothing.
I think I only call it Max instead of HBO or HBO Max less than 25% of the time. This rebrand was goofy. Still not as bad as Twitter's.
I've just always defaulted to HBO, especially considering much of their older content still has HBO pop up as a credit.
There was HBO Go and HBO Now before HBO Max. Also just HBO via television. Truly a hell scape.
Yeah I'll be honest I'm way too lazy to keep up with their rebranding attempts, that's where keeping it mentally filed as HBO made the most sense as it grew out of the premium cable channel from the 80s.
Twitter's was so bad people went from 'X (formerly Twitter)' to :what used to be called twitter' all the way back to just twitter without the company doing anything after the rebrand.
The original change dropping HBO was one of the stupidest branding changes I've ever seen (and there's a lot of competition). To be honest, they'd be better off dropping the Max part instead.
Please use a cw. I almost died laughing.
Damn, these companies are running around like headless chickens.
We should laugh at David Zaslav every chance we can
polygon about to be slop too https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/05/gaming-news-site-polygon-gutted-by-massive-layoffs-amid-sale-to-valnet/
Yes it's awful
Ah, I almost forgot it was officially called Max, they kept the brand 'HBO Max' here. During the rebrand they found out we already had a public broadcaster called 'Omroep MAX', which is often shortened to just MAX in the names of their programs. Trying to claim that name would probably have not gone well for HBO.
Don't forget... people got paid huge amounts to make these decisions 🙄
And paid huge amounts to pay for the marketing materials for the change. All when most people still called it HBO
Yep!
It's not about the destination, it's about all the managers who got bonuses along the way!
Monstanto has already been eaten by Bayer, and HBO isn't that big a fish so I wouldn't bet on that name to be honest
One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.
Philip-Morris-Disney-Fox-AT&T-AOL-Time-Warner-PepsiCo-Viacom-Halliburton-Skynet-Toyota-Trader-Joe's
Are they also renaming their plans? Can't wait to sign up to HBO Max Max
idiots
Probably because "Max" sounds more like streaming service for cinemax than HBO. Just bad branding and arguably opens them up to copyright suit.
HBO Sometimes Max
Why the fuck do they keep changing the name? What happened to HBO Go?
HBO max go.
No, HBO go go.
This might be the funniest shit I've read.
Your move Peacock.
Cockpee!
How long until it goes back to just being HBO?
I'd say 7,5 Mooches
it will be HBO MAX +, or hbo max pro+ next.
“HBO Go Max Now +” as it’s final shriek into the void before finally just returning to “HBO” 🤣
I don’t think anybody referred to it as Max anyway. Such a generic lame name.
Example of products that could be named Max:
Last time I checked people weren't products but ok
Check again
Max Power is a great name for a person.
subbed a long time ago on a cable deal. play a few movies to death on rotation. no thanks. i could rent what i wanted to see for less
Your detransition is very valid nyah
I didn't know they renamed it
What a ride
What bad PR did they do to cause a need for another stupid name change? Lol Max didn't have that HBO in it so people stopped thinking it was premium? I coulda fucking told you that.
I hate that their SEOs are good enough to get away with plain old max as a search term. It makes me irrationally angry when big corpos make these stupid decisions and get away with it, but only regret it when it immediately hurts their bottom line.
No way it's good SEO, it's 100% the search engines hard coding responses into their systems or something like that
The instantaneous speed and level of raw aggression some search terms have scream of meddling
I'm all for letting people self-identify, but cmon and make up your mind already
I'll never remember this new one
This is bullshit.
I demand HBO Maxine.
I mean, it's pretty straightforward...
To be fair, the name "X" was already taken and Max Diddy doesn't roll off the tongue.
Somehow HBO Max returned
HBO go max or go home now.
HBO Maxxi would be so much better.
Soon to be hbo super max premium plus
I wonder if they looked at the data for how people find the website, I'd find it by googling "hbo login"
I suspect the competent people knew all along. I wonder if the name was changed because of internal politics in the company against HBO. They changed the name when they were gutting a lot of HBO's leadership
That's like apple putting out a new same sized phone with no new options, but a different model number.