Starting today, a large portion of HBO Max subscribers will upgrade to Max, while other consumers will have to manually download the new streaming app. All HBO Max users will have the details of their previous plan, profiles, settings and other personal tastes, such as their “Continue Watching” and “My List” titles migrated to the new platform.
The revamped streaming service will roll out to Latin America later this year and then to other markets in 2024, such as Europe and Asia Pacific.
Warner Bros. Discovery to Launch “Max” Service at $9. 99/Month on May 23
For the most part, Max has the same value as HBO Max.
However, there’s also a third, more expensive tier, “Max Ultimate Ad Free,” which costs $19. 99 per month and provides 4K HDR video quality, surround sound with Dolby Atmos, the ability to watch up to 4 devices at the same time, and a hundred offline downloads.
HBO Max subscribers had 4K content with the old ad-free plan. They now have to pay an extra $4 to get high-quality content.
WBD announced on Monday that there will be more than 1000 videos and episodes available in 4K, 8 times more content than HBO Max. The titles come with “Game of Thrones,” “The Last of Us,” “Black Adam,” “The Suicide Squad,” and franchises like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight and The Matrix.
Additionally, “Avatar: The Way of Water” premieres on Max on June 7, allowing Ultimate subscribers to stream the “Avatar” suite in 4K UHD, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos.
The ad-supported tier, “Max With Ads,” costs $9. 99 per month and allows subscribers to watch content on two devices, HD video resolution and 5. 1 surround sound quality. Unfortunately, the classified ads plan does not provide offline downloaded ads.
Image credit: Warner Bros. Discovery
Speaking of ads, the company introduced new ad formats for advertisers at this year’s Upfront presentation.
In addition to classic pre-roll and mid-roll classified ads, advertisers also take advantage of new interactive options. This means Max subscribers can interact with things like pausing classified classified ads, which are classified classified ads that appear when users press the pause button; “one-click reveal” means an advertisement that displays a wonderful message, promotion or response to a questionnaire; carousel of classified ads showing products; Extendable classified ads, which are immersive for users, and “location” classified ads, where users can learn more about nearby merchants in their area.
The platform brings a bunch of new features and updates that users can take advantage of, adding more customization, an advanced homepage, a navigation menu, increased performance, and more.
Starting with a favorite, Max offers subscribers over 350 new profile avatar features to constitute their favorite TV or movie character. Users can now customize their profile to have an icon of Joel (Pedro Pascal) from “The Last of Us,” Logan Roy (Brian Cox) from “Succession,” Jon Snow (Kit Harington) from “Game of Thrones” or Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) from “White Lotus. “
Other characters come with those from Harry Potter, Justice League, “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Sopranos,” “Friends,” “House of the Dragon,” “Insecure,” “Hacks,” “The West Wing,” “Peacemaker. “and much more. There are even kid-friendly features like “Sesame Street,” “Scooby Doo,” and “Tom. “
Image credits: Max.
WBD revealed in the past that it adds default child profiles for new subscribers, as well as the ability to restrict certain content based on the child’s age: toddlers, big kids, big kids, tweens, or teens.
The new avatars are a step up from HBO Max’s limited profile customization options, such as converting the background color and adding the user’s name. Subscribers to the HBO Max mobile app can simply update the icon with a photo from their library.
Max will update and replace profile avatars over time, the company told TechCrunch.
During a demo of the platform, we also learned that profiles have a blue highlighting effect around a decided profile.
Although Max’s overall interface has a similar design to HBO Max, there are a few key differences. In addition to the new blue background, the homepage, content detail pages, and navigation menu have also been redesigned.
Max’s home screen now has committed rows for categories, genres, and brands. HBO Max has hidden all genres in the navigation menu. Also, Max’s navigation menu has been reduced to 3 tabs (Home, Movies & TV) for HBO Over 35 Max selections.
Image credit: Warner Bros. Discovery
Navigating from episode to episode is also less difficult as Max includes the “More Episodes” button in the content itself. So, if a user is watching an episode and needs to move on to another, they can simply click the button on the back of the screen to click on the video and go to the main points page.
The detailed TV screen pages were also updated. Previously, if HBO Max users wanted to read an episode description, they had to move to a separate page. Now the description appears on the side of the screen.
Once a viewer finishes a movie or the final episode of a season, Max has a new completion card for recommendations, where users can scroll through similar titles. If users need to load a movie or display it in their list, they can press and hold the OK button on their remote.
Starting in mid-June, WBD said it plans to roll out more updates every few weeks. Future features will be based on customer feedback, the company said.
In terms of performance, Max has been built on a new code base for greater stability across devices. As a result, the company expects its new app to be at least 20% faster than HBO Max.
In a verbal exchange with WBD CTO Avi Saxena and Chief Product Officer Tyler Whitworth earlier this month, TechCrunch reported that Max uses 4 CDNs (content delivery networks) to drive content delivery. HBO Max has already experienced blockages, such as the season 2 finale “Euphoria” and the premiere of “House of the Dragon. “
In the event that a screen fails, CDNs allow Max to (hopefully) keep working.
Warner Bros. Discovery CTO and CPO how they made Max have fewer errors
From titles from Max Originals, Warner, Bros. et HBO to content from brands like HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery (ID) and more, subscribers will have content to stream.
At launch, the movie coming to the service is DC’s superhero movie, “Shazam!Fury of the Gods,” which opened in theaters on March 14.
Max today released a new documentary, “Bama Rush,” which focuses on the sorority formula at the University of Alabama; a genuine crime documentary series “How to Create a Sex Scandal” and Zooey Deschanel’s new unscripted series “What Should I Eat?”
More new and upcoming titles:
Max will continue to upload more titles to the service. The company says it will continually update the platform, releasing an average of more than 40 titles and seasons a month.
The company has already revealed a slate of exciting new content about popular intellectual properties, including Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, The Big Bang Theory, The Conjuring, and Stephen King’s “It,” among others. . .
WBD has yet to reveal the main points of its live sports offering on Max.
While most of Discovery’s content is on the new service, that doesn’t mean the company is going to shut down Discovery. Instead, the sister streaming service will continue as a standalone offering.
Warner Bros. Discovery plans to remain Discovery as an independent streaming service in the U. S. U. S.
Warner Bros. Discovery Max will be a more personalized and technically advanced streaming service