HBO Max still isn't supersized enough to attract cord-cutters
When HBO Max launched in late May, I was excited despite all the branding confusion around the service.
Whereas HBO focused on a small number of highbrow shows and movies, HBO Max offers many more movies and shows from WarnerMedia and beyond. It has the potential to be a true rival to Netflix, with a broad catalog that’s worth keeping year-round instead of just whenever the best HBO shows arrive.
Now that HBO Max is here, I can see the reality: HBO Max is a better value than HBO used to be, but its catalog is still dwarfed by Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. That probably won’t change anytime soon, as parent company AT&T continues to spread its content catalog across multiple streaming services instead of investing in just one. AT&T has claimed to be ”all in” on HBO Max, but as with so many of the company’s other streaming video endeavors, this one seems like another half measure.