We tend to have a bit of fun trolling the chairman of Warner Brothers Discovery, David Zaslav. Ever since he took on the reins of the storied legacy studio in 2022 and immediately grafted the name of the amalgamation of cable networks he has done all he can to transform himself into a mogul, scooping up the estate of the legendary producer Bob Evans to serve as his West Coast digs and engaging in a full-out “whose d–k is bigger” battle of yachts with the likes of Jeff Bezos. His bluster, determination and cutthroat approach has reinforced that perception enough that when he’s guilty of a particularly galling overreaction, we’ve painted his doppelganger as one of his IP, Yosemite Sam. Sam yelled and screamed a lot but he never did get his ultimate quest of a fine dining experience of fried rabbit. Zas’ track record isn’t much better, although he appears to be eating a lot better.
Sure, he’s somehow curried favor with Wall Street investors who seem to have more patience with him than Hollywood, despite the fact that his company’s stock price has diminished by more than half under his watch. I’ll concede that perhaps some of my snark is out of sheer envy, especially for a fellow SUNY alum (as I’ll consistently remind, he began his journey in Binghamton, not Harvard).
But in his wake he’s cost literally thousands of people I’ve known over the years their jobs and has particularly done damage to the group of networks he oversees–which given his resume one would think would be a skill set. In his quixotic quest to lump them together he has made a series of missteps that to those not directly affected has been seen as at best ill-infomed and at times bizarre. And at yesterday’s upfront presentation in the same Madison Square Garden where his beloved Knicks did so well on Monday night, his company delivered a de facto mea culpa in the form of breaking news, as deftly reported by TECH CRUNCH’s Lauren Forristal:
Two years after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) rebranded its streaming service to Max, the company is reverting to its old name. On Wednesday, the company announced the good news at its Upfront presentation, with the name change becoming official this summer.
Well, technically, Zas didn’t deliver the news; like any CEO with egg on his face, he left the actual announcement to his underlings, as THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s hardest working scribe Mikey O’Connell observed:
Curiously, this development wasn’t front-loaded in the presentation. It came 30 minutes in, after multiple mentions of “Max,” when Casey Bloys arrived. “With the course we are on and the strong momentum we’re enjoying,” said Bloys, “we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition.” The good news is I have a drawer full of stationery from the last round,” said the Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, whose title likely changed mid-presentation. “So I’m all set.”
An annual brag-fest thrown with the sole purpose of selling advertising space is an unusual venue to wave a white flag, but Bloys had fun with it – as did Max (Ahem, HBO Max) CMO Shauna Spenley. She went through her own spiel in front of a mocked-up meme of HBO Go, HBO Now, HBO Max and Max all sharing the same screen. “
Bloys is darn lucky he’s a lot better at identifying comedy that resonates than delivering it himself. And knowing how both executive suites and cabinets are constructed these days, I’ll cut Spenley a tad of slack that all she was doing was ultimately what she was empowered to do.
But I’ll merely ask her this question, since I’m well aware thanks to Zas’ DOGE-ish slashings she’s lost quite a bit of the experienced braintrust in research and consumer insights that she and her predecessors were able to avail themselves of.
What did you do to come to the conclusion that you did now that you did any differently two years ago, when Zas actually did appear on stage and crowed about the genius and oppotunities of the MAX brand? Did you base your course correction strictly on the lack of traction that the service has gotten? Or did you bother to ask anyone–then or now–about the same sort of imagery and grandiose vision you convinced yourself was accurate cuz it clicked with you or your boss?
Zas’ lieutenants fumbled their way through concessions which the NEW YORK TIMES’ John Koblin reported onL
“It really is a reaction to being in the marketplace for two years, evaluating what’s working and really leaning into that,”… Bloys, the chairman of HBO content, said in an interview. “We started listening to consumers saying, ‘Hey, we don’t really want more content, we want something that is different, we want to end the death scroll with something that is better,’” JB Perrette, the president of streaming for Warner Bros. Discovery, said in an interview.
I never did work for HBO or even a Warner Brothers company. But I did spend a lot of time analyzing what worked for HBO under the guidance of someone who once had Spenley’s responsibilties who was fiercely determined to beat his former employers at their own game. And one particularly impactful methodology we used was in the form of anthropomorphics, where we would effectively treat a network as if it were a human being. Among the more popular ways we’d do that would be to ask respondents to imagine if _____ threw a party. What would the room look like? What kind of food and drink would be served? What kind of music would be playing? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you want to be on their guest list?
We used to carefully curate target respondents, recruit them and pay them handsomely to answer those questions. I get these days budgets are tight. But since AI is ultimately derived from those sort of responses, one only needs to type the same question into CoPilot or a similar app to at least approach the same results. Here’s what CoPilot spit out about a party hosted by Max:
Max throws the kind of party that people talk about for weeks after. His place is transformed into a glowing, energetic hub of excitement—string lights casting a warm glow, music pulsing through the air, and laughter spilling into every corner.
Guests arrive dressed to impress, greeted by Max himself—ever the charismatic host—who makes everyone feel welcome with a handshake, a joke, or a perfectly timed compliment. The food is abundant, ranging from gourmet bites to comfort food classics, and the drinks are mixed with flair. There’s always something unexpected: maybe a live band in the living room, a magician weaving through the crowd, or a spontaneous dance.
Below is a generated image that captures the vibrant magic of an HBO-hosted party:
- The scene is set in an upscale, modern venue with touches of vintage Hollywood glamour. Luxurious velvet drapes and modern art installations mix together in a bold, dramatic manner.
- Guests in elegant attire mingle beneath sophisticated lighting. The lighting creates dynamic shadows and glowing highlights reminiscent of classic film noir, yet with a contemporary twist.
Now I’ll grant you that this alone may reassure you that AI still isn’t foolproof. All the more reason to still do actual research, I suppose. But there’s more than enough here that strongly reinforces the fact that HBO is a far better value proposition, and more than likely was two years ago as well.
There may be others who are laughing at this turn of events, as USA TODAY’s Jonathan Limehouse noted:
While the reason behind the name change may be business-driven, Max couldn’t help but joke about reverting to HBO Max in several X posts.
“What do we think?” one of the streaming service’s social media posts, which included a meme from the HBO show “Veep,” said.
In a separate X post, Max shared a GIF of another HBO show, “True Detective,” which includes actor Matthew McConaughey’s character (Detective Rustin “Rust” Cohle) saying, “Everything we’ve ever done or will do we’re gonna do over and over and over again.” The caption for the post reads: “Explaining to my friends I work at HBO Max again.”
And heck, considering all the tsurris that comes along with CNN these days, maybe sticking the imagery of a fancy party could help relieve some of the pressure you’re being confronted with? I mean, Kaitlin Collins would make a pretty nice barmaid, wouldn’t she?Food for thought, Yosemite. Maybe it’ll take a party for you to face your own music.
Until next time…