- Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, stated “Max” ought to have been known as “HBO.”
- In an interview with Selection, he stated the model requested customers to give attention to the improper factor.
- He added that he does not see Amazon Prime as competitors, and he does not “perceive” Apple TV.
Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, as soon as noticed HBO because the “gold normal of authentic programming” — however he thinks dad or mum firm Warner Bros. Discovery made a mistake when renaming its streaming service.
“It was a shock! We’d all the time watch what HBO was doing, and at one level, they’d HBO, HBO Go, HBO Now, and HBO Max,” Sarandos stated in an interview with Selection. “And I stated, ‘Once they’re critical, all these names will go away, and it will simply be HBO.'”
“HBO Max” grew to become simply “Max” after the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2021.
“This new model alerts an vital change from two narrower merchandise, HBO Max and Discovery+, to our broader content material providing and client proposition,” JB Perrette, CEO of International Streaming & Video games for Warner Bros. Discovery, stated in a 2023 press launch.
“Whereas every product provided one thing for some individuals, Max may have a broad array of high quality decisions for everyone,” he added.
Within the course of, in response to Sarandos, the streaming service drew client focus to the improper side of the model.
“I’d have by no means guessed HBO would have gone away,” he stated. “They put all that effort into one factor that they will inform the buyer — it must be HBO.”
The proliferation of particular person streaming providers has ramped up closely lately, together with Amazon Prime, Max, and Apple TV. Regardless, Sarandos does not really feel threatened.
“I felt much more comfy that we’d do higher at this than they’d,” Sarandos stated when requested whether or not he was fearful when a few of Netflix’s suppliers, like Disney, instantly grew to become rivals.
In a letter to shareholders in January 2025, the corporate reported surpassing 300 million subscribers.
“Our benefit is the funding we have made in personalization,” he added. “We aren’t a one-genre label.”
Sarandos additionally does not see Amazon Prime as able to competing with Netflix when it comes to film and TV manufacturing, however he certified that it’s tough for him to foretell whether or not the corporate may pose a menace sooner or later with out an consciousness of their “long-term plans.”
As for Apple, which has lately seen elevated viewership of Apple TV+ because of marquee authentic programming like “Severance,” Sarandos does not perceive why the corporate invested in a streaming arm in any respect.
“I do not perceive it past a advertising play, however they’re actually sensible individuals,” he stated. “Possibly they see one thing we do not.”
Above all else, Sarandos believes that Netflix’s large content material library will proceed to tell apart them from different gamers within the sport.
“If you happen to love documentary, Netflix is the doc home,” he stated. “If you happen to love drama, it is the drama home. So long as we’ve the power to try this, we will be wonderful.”
Amazon, Warner Brothers Discovery, Netflix, and Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark by Enterprise Insider previous to publication.
