In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery renamed their streaming service from “HBO Max” to just “Max”. Dropping the storied HBO brand was derided by approximately everyone outside of the Warner Bros. Discovery boardroom. Now, almost exactly two years later, they’re reverting back to “HBO Max”.
I was trying to decide if the only thing dumber than the original rename in 2023 is bringing the old name right back in 2025. But no, of course that’s not right. Correcting this mistake is superior to sticking to their idiotic guns and continuing to ignore the value of the HBO name. And hey, it seems they’re smart enough to poke fun at themselves, with more than a dozen social media posts mocking their own past mistake.1
Footnotes:
Because Instagram is so completely unsearchable, here’s a collection of direct links to posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
As well, these posts feel very much like the type of thing that will get deleted in the future. So, I’ve archived a couple of my favorites, numbers 4 and 13 from above. That clip of Conan on “Hot Ones” is what I immediately thought of upon hearing this news. ↩︎
