This week, Warner Bros. Discovery executives took a page out of Jay-Z’s book and made a bold reintroduction. Its streaming service known as Max, previously known as HBO Max (and even more previously known as either HBO Go or HBO Now, depending on if you were a cable subscriber or not), will now be called, once again, HBO Max.
The return-to-roots rebrand for the streamer was just one of several announcements the media company made at its upfront presentation on Wednesday, which focused on Warner Bros. Discovery’s culture-driving content and ad opportunities like new IP-based partnership offerings that will let advertisers partner with iconic franchises and shows like Harry Potter and Friends.
During a nearly two-hour presentation at Madison Square Garden, execs emphasized WBD’s ability to drive action and awareness with its zeitgeisty entertainment; exhibit A was White Lotus’s impact on increased tourism in Maui, Sicily, and Thailand, triple-digit growth in the Four Seasons’s website visits, and almost seven times more sales of a particular caftan worn by Parker Posey’s character in the show’s third season. Stars and athletes like John Cena, Shaquille O’Neal, and Noah Wyle helped tout their respective sizzle reels while execs made the case for spending advertising dollars with them amid a fractured entertainment landscape.
“Honestly, our industry is starting to feel like an episode of Fixer Upper,” Ryan Gould, co-president of ad sales, said onstage. “The house we built together worked beautifully for so long, but we’ve outgrown it. It just doesn’t meet our needs anymore. The house still has its own foundation and great moments, but it’s time to renovate, modernize the design, improve efficiencies and build something even more valuable for the years ahead.”
Unlocked vault
WBD’s main new ad offering, WBD Storyverse, will let brands in on decades’ worth of tentpole IP in an effort to both satisfy demands for nostalgia and introduce new fans to old stories, Gould said. This will include access to successful series and films like The Big Bang Theory, Elf, and The Matrix.
“Advertising has always been a combination of art and science,” Gould said. “Even with all the technology and data that we have at our fingertips today, one fruit still remains: It’s the creative that drives the emotional connection.”
Some of those IP-based partnerships have already generated major attention, including Unilever’s Hellman’s Superbowl ad inspired by When Harry Met Sally, a spot with BMW and Hacks, and Jefferson’s Bourbon’s Gotham City-inspired take on The Penguin.
The presentation, which also highlighted previously announced ad tools like Moments and StreamX, introduced two new tools, called Demo Direct and Neo. The former will help streamline ad client processes and let advertisers to leverage all of WBD’s linear networks, while the latter will allow direct access to the company’s portfolio of premium video, execs said.
Old and new
WBD wasn’t afraid to make fun of its tendency to rebrand itself, both in person and online. As a room full of advertisers giggled in near-disbelief at Max’s reverse evolution to HBO Max in MSG (“The good news is I have a a drawer full of stationary from the last time around,” joked Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content), its social media team was busy firing off memes online.
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What is dead may never die, indeed!
WBD also highlighted an exciting slate of upcoming streaming content, some of which is also borrowing from the tried-and-true. That includes Task, a new dramatic series starring Mark Ruffalo, an It prequel series called It: Welcome to Derry, and the next chapter of the Game of Thrones universe, called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Actor Noah Wyle took the stage to talk about the recent success of medical drama The Pitt, before Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers Television Group and US networks, announced a network and streaming joint strategy to air Season 1 on TNT before Season 2 debuts on HBO Max. Dungey also announced several new unscripted series to build out the network side of offerings, which include competition shows from Guy Fieri and Octavia Spencer, and a dancing-meets-Shark Week show called Dancing with Sharks. (Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.)
Athletes and news personalities also lent their time to present upcoming highlights, including TNT’s airing of this year’s Stanley Cup, a focus on women’s sports, and a new streamer from CNN, called CNN All Access. Sound familiar? News junkies might remember the network’s previous streaming attempt, CNN+, which was shut down in 2022—but Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN, promised that CNN All Access will be its “first true news streamer,” allowing viewers to tune into coverage on phones, CTV, and other digital devices.
To close out the show, Dana Nussbaum, EVP of worldwide marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures, announced a relaunch of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, which will debut with a movie version of The Cat in the Hat early next year. The company also emphasized its cinematic offerings, bringing out director James Gunn to talk about several DC universe properties, including new show Lanterns and the 2026 film Supergirl, and to unveil a new Superman trailer ahead of its July theatrical release.
“From the beginning, our cast and crew poured their hearts and souls into every element of the film, and I’m really over the moon with how the movie turned out,” Gunn said. “I can’t wait to share it with all of you.”