Max is becoming HBO Max again

Less than a few months after a brand design update that saw the Max logo become more like HBO’s, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced the streaming service will revert to its original “HBO Max” name in the summer of 2025.

The news was announced during WBD’s upfront presentation in New York City May 14, 2025.

The streamer launched in 2019 under the name “HBO Max” when HBO was still owned by WarnerMedia. Under that name, it used the HBO logo parked next to a stylized wordmark for “Max” in all lowercase filled with a blue-violet gradient. 

It was said that “Max” was picked as a nod to the Cinemax brand, which was also part of WarnerMedia, which used the “Max” moniker from 2008 to 2011 (the network was also unofficially known as “Skinemax” by some thanks to its often saucy content).

The Max portion of the name also had the advantage of being short for “maximum,” which could have also been seen as a fun way to poke fun at other streamers that, at the time, were entering the market with “plus” branding, such as Disney+, which launched in 2019.

After Discovery and WarnerMedia merged to become WBD in 2022, the company announced plans to drop the “HBO” from its name and simply have the streamer become known as “Max.”

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At the time, the company indicated it was looking to separate HBO Max from the HBO brand to help consumers better understand that it offers a wider variety of content than just the often edgy series that the HBO linear channel had become known for, though it replicated the familiar “dot” in the middle of HBO’s “O” in Max’s “a” as a way to, at least in part, still maintain some connection to HBO.

Along with the name change, Max also switched to a distinct blue shade as its brand color of choice.

Then, in April 2025, the network dropped the blue and switched to a more monochromatic palette that many were quick to point out was similar to HBO’s branding. The update also included swapping out the familiar bright blue background on the streamer’s app icons found on mobile devices and smart TVs, with the mostly dark gray and white color palette blending in with the likes of Apple TV+, Peacock, and others.

It was not immediately clear if that change was actually part of a broader strategy to transition back to the HBO Max name, though it does make a certain degree of sense that may have been at least part of the motivation behind the April changes, while still saving the bigger rebranding for an upfront announcement. It’s also likely that a gradual shift could help with aspects such as app icon recognition. 

The new HBO Max lockup restores the full HBO logo while removing the dot from inside the “a” in “Max,” which helps remove some of that element’s inconsistent visual weight.

The word “Max” continues to appear in the stylized typeface introduced in 2023. This typeface features distinct curves in the “m” and “x” while the “a” feels more in line with the “O” shape.

The pale multi-color wash that was introduced in April remains, as does the largely black and white palette. 

Despite several years of trying to distinguish itself from the HBO brand, the name change obviously reverses course.

If you ask WBD, the official word is that the name change is part of an “evolution” of the service, though the company did suggest that internal research indicated that the “Max” name never completely resonated with consumers. Although specifics were not revealed, it appears likely that this may have been a case of “everyone’s still calling it HBO Max anyway…”

Beyond 2025, it’s also possible to see reverting back to the HBO Max name not as a final step, but an intermediate one if the service ever becomes known simply as “HBO.”

WBD did not specifically mention any such plans, but as media consumption continues to evolve, there have been signs that some brands, such as ESPN, are forgoing creating a separate name for their streaming offerings. Instead, ESPN will call its standalone streaming service “ESPN.” CBS News also took a somewhat similar approach when it renamed its news streamer CBSN as simply “CBS News” before adopting the name “CBS News 24/7.”

Looking into an admittedly not-quite-clear crystal ball, it’s not hard to imagine a world where media consumption, especially from nationwide and international brands, switches completely or almost completely to a direct-to-consumer model, which could eliminate the need for separate names, a notion that ESPN appears to have taken note of.

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