What’s the Difference Between HBO Max and Newly Launched Max? An In-Depth Look at New Streaming Service
Today has been a long time coming, for well over a year, before WarnerMedia and Discovery even officially became one, the merged company’s executives have been planning to unite the two disparate content libraries into a single streaming service; that was the value proposition of the entire merger, to begin with. Since those plans were made public, the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery has gone on a perilous journey to right its financial ship, and while the economics of the entire streaming landscape are continuing to change, the company has finally reached its goal with the official launch of Max.
The service is now live, but there is a lot more to Max than just the substantially increased content offerings. The engineering teams at WBD have built a completely new platform that is designed specifically to make finding the specific content you are looking for easier. The Streamable got an in-depth look at the new Max experience ahead of its launch, so we are going to run you through some of the biggest aspects of the new service’s user interface.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Max When Service Launches on May 23
Is Max Just HBO Max with a New Name?
The answer to this question is a bit complicated. Fundamentally, the answer is “No,” as there are marked improvements on the new platform over its predecessor. However, for many casual HBO Max users, it would be understandable if upon logging on, they thought the answer was “Yes.” The look of both streamers is very similar, but there are a number of key design differences that are aimed to make the streaming experience easier for all users., whether they recognize them or not.
“When we thought of the UI [uer interface],” Tyler Whitworth WBD’s chief product officer told The Streamable, “we really wanted to make it a bit more of an evolution of HBO Max as opposed, as opposed to something that’s radically different so that all of our HBO Max customers that love the service today can, can easily transition into Max.”
Max was built on a completely new tech stack, utilizing HBO Max’s design, but constructing the code from the ground up in order to provide fixes to numerous issues that WBD executives have long admitted were baked into the service’s DNA. So while there will be a lot of Max that is familiar to users — with good reason — the platform is completely new.
What Are the Major Changes from HBO Max to Max?
I don’t know if I would consider any of the changes “major,” but that seems to be by design. The changes are instead subtle but purposeful in improving the user experience. While the WBD tech team kept the general look and layout of HBO Max mostly intact so as to not force viewers to learn an entirely new user interface, there are a number of key differences that are designed to make the streaming experience easier for all users.
Profile Spotlights
The changes start as soon as you log into Max. The updated profile menu puts a spotlight on each individual user’s avatar as you scroll between them, making it clear which profile you are about to click on; which is helpful, considering that with all of the avatar options, it would be understandable if you forgot which one went with which person on your account.
Content Lenses
From there, users will notice a new row of options at the top of the homepage; there are shortcuts for “Home,” “Series,” “Movies,” “HBO,” and “New & Notable.” These lenses — as WBD is calling them — allow you to narrow down your content search. While viewers often turn to a service without a definitive title in mind to stream, they almost always know how much time they plan to watch and what they are in the mood for. These different options will take users directly to curated collections that make finding something to watch quicker and easier.
As you navigate into each lens, you are then able to drill down even further into the type of show or movie you want to watch. For example, once inside the HBO lens, you will be able to pick from titles in “Action,” “Comedy,” “Crime,” “Documentaries,” or “Drama.” Then, in the “New & Notable” lens, you will also be able to browse through titles that were just added to Max and those that are set to leave the service in the coming days and weeks.
Utilities Menu
On the left-hand side of the page, Max has pared down the cluttered utilities options from HBO Max to a simple selection of “Search,” “Home,” and “My Stuff,” which is where users can find their favorites and titles to continue watching. Down below the three main utility functions is the shortcut to take you to the account and profile settings.
Related: What New Shows and Movies are Coming to Max on May 23?
Brand Spotlights
With the merging of HBO Max’s library with nearly everything from the discovery+ side of the company, there are now tons of brands housed on the single Max service. While that might be a bit overwhelming to some users — especially those that are used to the separate, more streamlined platforms — Max makes it easy to focus just on the content that you are looking for. Now, there is a row for everything from HBO, Max Originals, DC, and Studio Ghibli to HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, and ID.
When you select a brand that you want to explore, the menu will make recommendations of content to watch, then you will be able to browse the featured titles from the brand or to scroll through the entire offerings alphabetically.
Collections
While one of the key focuses of the Max platform is to make content discovery easy and intuitive for users, there is also an element of curation as well. These collections will highlight a special selection of content around themes, celebrations, anniversaries, and more. At launch, among Max’s collections will be one celebrating Asian American Pacific Islanders Heritage Month highlighting all of the offerings on the service from AAPI artists and creators as well as a special “Sex and the City” collection.
Leading up to the second season of sequel series “And Just Like That,” Max will have a collection of “SatC” essential episodes as well as star Sarah Jessica Parker’s favorites.
Genre Outro
Despite all of its lenses, hubs, and collections, Max’s designers recognize that it can still be difficult to find the perfect thing to watch sometimes. So, rather than providing an endless scroll of repopulating rows, the Max homepage has a definitive bottom. Once you have exhausted all of its initial recommendations, you will hit what WBD calls its “Genre Outro.”
While some services can continually recycle the same suggestions to the point where you swear that you have already passed by the exact same row of title cards a half dozen times, Max instead attempts to redirect your search at a certain point. If you can’t find something initially, at the bottom of the page, will be a row of genres to choose from. From basics like “Comedy” and “Drama” to “Food and Home” to “Reality,” there are a lot of different options to select from.
However, no genre exemplifies the scope of the new service quite like “Crime.” The genre is a great example of where the merging of the HBO Max and discovery+ libraries can enhance the options that users have at their fingertips. Both sides of Warner Bros. Discovery have decades-long histories in the space, but in very different ways. Be it from HBO with “The Sopranos” or “The Wire,” or from Discovery with “Very Scary People” or “Disappeared,” there is a huge variety of crime titles on the service. Both HBO and Discovery have extensive experience with true crime documentaries as well, but bring a unique sensibility to their projects.
How Will Kids Profiles Work on Max?
The team behind Max have brought some thoughtful changes to the way that kids’ profiles work in the service. In addition to being able to set up kid-focused profiles that limit the content that the individual user can watch on the streamer, parents will also be able to further tailor the experience that each kid has via the Max website. Additionally, there is an option to set up a passcode to navigate out of a kid’s profile. Therefore, if a child attempts to get onto mom and dad’s account to watch something that they shouldn’t, they won’t be able to.
On the user experience side, you will immediately see some differences between the kids’ and adult profiles. At the top of the page, Max trims down the lens options. Gone are the “HBO” lens (for obvious reasons) and the “New & Notable” option. While HBO is no longer an option, that doesn’t mean that the child-friendly titles that had previously lived on HBO Max are sectioned off as well. Things like “Sesame Street,” “Loony Tunes,” Cartoon Network, and more all have their own hubs inside the kids’ experience.
Additionally, kids will be able to search for content featuring some of their favorite characters from across shows and universes. Underneath the main title card at the top of the page lives a row of character avatars (some of them are somewhat interactive) that allow kids to scroll through and see all of the content in which a certain character appears. For example, if your child loves Batman, they can click on the Caped Crusader’s avatar and see every episode and (kid-friendly) movie that he appears in from “Batwheels” to “Lego Batman” to “Batman: The Animated Series” to the iconic “Super Friends.”
How Will Max Recommend Content?
In the first few days of the Max platform, the streamer will essentially make the same recommendations to all users. While the viewing history and settings will transfer over from previous HBO Max customers, the new system will need to gather information for what it will suggest to each viewer. As you watch more on the service, it will begin to adapt to what you are most interested in.
From there, the experience that you see on each page will change. The personalization will occur across all pages as the “Featured” recommendations and “For You” selections will adapt to reflect what the system learns about your individual interests.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.