A funny thing happened over the course of the streaming wars: As the end goal of the tech and media companies became global TV domination, the niches and specialities of many companies faded away (even Disney and ESPN with their strong consumer brands have been joined at the streaming hip to Hulu).
That was certainly true at Warner Bros. Discovery, which inherited HBO and HBO Max, and rejiggered them into Max. Why? Well as WBD streaming chief JB Perrette said at the time: âWhile [HBO Max and Discovery+] offered something for some people, Max will have a broad array of quality choices for everybody.â
The result was that HBO, the most premium of premium TV companies, became absorbed into something that was meant to be a Netflix-killer.
As HBO Max CEO Casey Bloys told reporters Nov. 20 in the companyâs Hudson Yards offices, that ended up being a foolâs errand: âTo Netflixâs credit, as the first mover, they have become a utility for consumers,â Bloys said. âIn retrospect, we can all see that the streaming industryâs race for volume, years ago, found many brands losing their identity.â
In a world where Netflix and YouTube are the video utilities, media companies need something else to stand on. So Bloys has been undertaking an effort to make Max HBO again. That started, of course, with the surprise announcement in May that the company was rebranding.
âI know youâre all shocked, but the good news is I have a drawer full of stationery from the last time around,â Bloys quipped at the time.
But the jokes underscored a meaningful strategic shift. No longer was WBD trying to compete with Netflix for global domination, they were playing to be the premium layer sitting above it.
â[Netflix] is the basic cable of today, and in todayâs world, consumers still want to add to their entertainment portfolio with must-have truly unique programming that only we can deliver,â Bloys told the audience of…