A few months ago HBO Max, one of the highest-grossing app in the US, rebranded into Max. But this wasn't a simple name change - Max is a new app that's only available in the US while HBO Max is still available outside of the US.
Oh, Max also got discovery+'s catalog of shows.
But here's the question - did the rebrand help or hurt the streamer?
Looking at the app's mobile revenue before and after the rebrand the answer is...
The simple answer is that it doesn't look like it.
This year has been pretty positive for HBO Max. So far in 2023, HBO Max (pre rebrand) averaged $2.3M in daily net revenue. Yes, daily! That was before the rebrand.
Once HBO Max turned into Max, the old app was removed from the App Store and Google Play in the US. Non US revenue is now all that's left and it's at around a 10th of the total from earlier in the year.
Brazil, Mexico, and Spain are the top markets by revenue, and there, revenue remained fairly consistent. Which makes sense - nothing happened there.
In the US, revenue dropped a visible amount. Although it didn't happen right away, revenue has been on the decline for a few weeks now.
Our estimates show that Max averages $1.9M/day, and the trend isn't pointing up. At all.
This revenue "leak" is a reminder that content is still king, and HBO hasn't had any real blockbusters recently. Combine that with the return to movie theaters and you can see Max needs to do more to expand its offering, and discovery+ content isn't "it".
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
Wall Street bet $2 billion on Polymarket, and downloads surged 1,172% in December. The prediction market banned in 2022 is now where Wall Street looks for signals.