• by Wayne Friedman , May 14, 2025

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max will be rebranded back to "HBO Max" starting this summer -- the original name of the premium streamer, which started up in May 2020.

This comes as the company is hosting its upfront TV advertising presentation on Wednesday.

WBD claims increasingly strong profitability for Max -- gaining $3 billion over a two-year period and adding 22 million global subscribers over that period.

The company says it is on a path to reaching more than 150 million subscribers

In February the company reported a profit of $677 million from all its direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses for 2024, with climbing 2% to $10.7 billion.

Currently, Max has 122.3 million global subscribers -- with an estimated 60 million coming from the U.S.

Analysts have been critical of the company’s name change to Max since May 2023 -- saying the HBO name has had a longtime, strong brand association with high-quality programming -- like with “Game of Thrones” -- as well as winning major multiple awards annually, topping all networks.

At the time, executives said the reason for the change to Max was to encompass a broader range of content from all its networks platforms including TNT, CNN, and Discovery Channel.

The streamer returning to its original HBO Max name “will further drive the service forward and amplify the uniqueness,” according to a WBD press release. “It is also a testament to WBD’s willingness to keep boldly iterating its strategy and approach – leaning heavily on consumer data and insights – to best position itself for success.”

The company adds that HBO Max will be "de-prioritizing other genres that drive less engagement or acquisition."