At Tom’s Guide, we really like HBO Max. It’s currently ranked as our best streaming service overall, and new staffers are jumping on board every day. At the risk of taking the road more traveled, I also have to sing HBO Max’s praises. And that’s strange, considering that a few years ago, I thought that HBO had an impossibly messy and narrow approach to streaming.
The reasons why HBO Max succeeds where so many other streaming services flounder aren’t hard to parse. You can watch a huge variety of excellent shows and movies, and the interface puts as little distance as possible between you and your media. Of all the streaming services, only HBO Max seems to realize that, all other things being equal, viewers don’t have an affinity for platforms; they feel an affinity for the things they watch. Brand loyalty to a streaming service is about as logical as brand loyalty to a candy bar wrapper.
As some streaming services soar and others falter, it’s worth remembering that HBO Max is vulnerable to missteps, and its time on top may ultimately be short. But until then, it’s a wonderful case study in how a streaming service can get just about everything right.
Testing the competition
For a little background, I was the interim streaming editor on Tom’s Guide up until 2019. During that time, I saw the medium grow from “basically just Netflix” to the cornucopia of services that we see today. At best, I’m a moderate videophile; I’ll only watch a TV show or movie if it really, really grabs my interest. I don’t like background noise, or media that only requires half of your attention while you do chores or play video games. As such, my criteria for a good streaming service boil down to three things:
1) Is there anything good to watch?
2) How easy is it to watch these things?
3) Will anything get in the way when I try to watch?
When Netflix was the only game in town, the answer to all three was a resounding “yes.” Netflix had…