# HBO Max
> SVOD streaming service · warner bros discovery
- Profile type: Product
- Profile status: baseline
- Last updated: 2026-05-03T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/products/hbo-max/
- Also known as: Max, HBOMax, HBO Max (formerly Max)
## Summary
HBO Max is Warner Bros. Discovery's flagship subscription streaming service, combining HBO's premium-scripted catalog with Warner Bros. film and TV, Discovery non-fiction, and select live sports via TNT. Originally launched in 2020, rebranded to Max in 2023, and rebranded back to HBO Max on July 9, 2025.

## Product facts

- Category: SVOD streaming service
- Parent company: warner bros discovery (https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/warner-bros-discovery/)
- Launched: 2020-05-27
- Ad model: Dual SVOD + ad-supported tier (Basic with Ads); ad load up to 6 minutes per hour as of 2025.
- Pricing: Three U.S. tiers (effective Oct. 21, 2025 for new subscribers): Basic with Ads $10.99/mo ($109.99/yr), Standard $18.49/mo ($184.99/yr), Premium $22.99/mo ($229.99/yr). Live sports require Standard or Premium.


## Key facts

- HBO Max originally launched in the United States on May 27, 2020 at $14.99 per month, debuting with roughly 10,000 hours of content as the successor to HBO Now. — TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/21/hbo-max-debuts-on-may-27th-with-10000-hours-of-content-including-a-handful-of-originals/
- Warner Bros. Discovery announced on May 14, 2025 at its Upfront presentation that the service would rebrand from Max back to HBO Max; the rebrand went live on July 9, 2025 with the new tagline "It's good to be home." — Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom: https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/warner-bros-discovery-announces-max-become-hbo-max-summer
- HBO Max raised U.S. prices effective October 21, 2025 for new subscribers (and the first billing cycle on or after November 20, 2025 for existing subscribers) to $10.99 (Basic with Ads), $18.49 (Standard), and $22.99 (Premium) per month. — HBO Max Help Center: https://help.hbomax.com/US/Answer/Detail/000002580
- Warner Bros. Discovery ended Q4 2025 with 131.6 million global streaming subscribers, up 3.6 million quarter-over-quarter, with streaming revenue of $2.8 billion (+4% YoY) and streaming advertising revenue up 17% in the quarter. — Warner Bros. Discovery Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Results: https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results
- HBO Max's live sports hub carries select MLB, NHL, and NCAA Men's March Madness games via TNT Sports integration; live sports access is restricted to Standard and Premium subscribers and requires no separate add-on as of 2026. — HBO Max Help Center — Sports on HBO Max: https://help.hbomax.com/US/Answer/Detail/000002560


## Related

- warner bros discovery (Parent company) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/warner-bros-discovery/
- david zaslav (President and CEO of parent company; led 2025 rebrand-back-to-HBO-Max decision) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/david-zaslav/
- netflix (Primary SVOD competitor) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/netflix/
- paramount plus (SVOD competitor (under pending Paramount Skydance acquisition of WBD)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/paramount-plus/
- peacock (SVOD competitor) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/peacock/
- the walt disney company (Streaming competitor (Disney+ / Hulu)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/the-walt-disney-company/


## External coverage

- Warner Bros. Discovery: HBO Max — Official Site (https://www.hbomax.com)
- 2025-05-14 — Warner Bros. Discovery: Warner Bros. Discovery Announces Max to Become HBO Max This Summer (https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/warner-bros-discovery-announces-max-become-hbo-max-summer)
- 2026-02-26 — Warner Bros. Discovery: Warner Bros. Discovery Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results (https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results)
- 2025-10-21 — HBO Max Help Center: HBO Max Plan Price Changes — October/November 2025 (https://help.hbomax.com/US/Answer/Detail/000002580)
- 2025-07-09 — NewscastStudio: HBO Max rebrand goes live with new tagline, 'It's good to be home' (https://www.newscaststudio.com/2025/07/09/hbo-max-rebrand-goes-live-with-new-tagline-its-good-to-be-home/)

## Profile
HBO Max is Warner Bros. Discovery's flagship direct-to-consumer service and the locus of WBD's streaming-first pivot. The brand has cycled through three identities in five years: HBO Max launched May 27, 2020 under WarnerMedia as the successor to HBO Now; rebranded to simply Max on May 23, 2023 after the WarnerMedia–Discovery merger to signal a broader, non-prestige catalog that absorbed Discovery+ content; and reverted to HBO Max on July 9, 2025 after CEO David Zaslav concluded the "Max" name had diluted the premium signal advertisers and subscribers actually paid for. The relaunched-as-Max date in 2023 marked a strategic identity, but the service is the same product line that began streaming in 2020 — we use the original 2020 launch date as the canonical `launchedAt`.

The 2025 rebrand-back was telegraphed at WBD's Upfront on May 14, 2025 and executed July 9, ahead of Emmy nominations on July 15 — a deliberate choice to put the HBO marque back in front of awards-cycle media buyers. Pricing rose across all three U.S. tiers in late October 2025, the second consecutive year of increases on the ad-supported plan and a clear signal that WBD is testing the SVOD-pricing ceiling in parallel with content-investment messaging.

For ad buyers, HBO Max occupies the premium end of the SVOD AVOD spectrum: high CPMs (reportedly $30–$45 range), a smaller but quality-skewed ad-supported subscriber base (~8 million as of August 2025 per third-party estimates), and an ad load that crept from 4 to 6 minutes per hour through 2025. The TNT Sports integration — MLB, NHL, March Madness, select U.S. Soccer — gives HBO Max a live-sports inventory pool the pure-entertainment SVODs lack, though the loss of NBA rights to NBC, Peacock, and Amazon for the 2025–26 season removed the marquee live-sports anchor that had defined the prior Bleacher Report Sports add-on era.

The active corporate overhang on HBO Max is Paramount Skydance Corporation's pending $31-per-share acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which WBD shareholders approved on April 23, 2026 with a Q3 2026 targeted close. A combined Paramount-WBD would consolidate HBO Max with Paramount+ — see [Warner Bros. Discovery's profile](/companies/warner-bros-discovery/) and [our business-deals coverage](/sections/business-deals/) for the merger arc.
## Coverage on The State of Streaming
- [Paramount Skydance Pays Ellison and Outgoing President $124M as WBD Holders Reject Zaslav Parachute](https://thestateofstreaming.com/business-deals/2026/04/wbd-paramount-merger-followups/) — 2026-04-26
- [WBD Shareholders Approve Paramount Merger 99% to 1%](https://thestateofstreaming.com/business-deals/2026/04/wbd-paramount-shareholder-vote/) — 2026-04-25

## Tags

- svod
- streaming-service
- hbo
- warner-bros-discovery
- rebrand
- tnt-sports
- ad-supported

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