Talking with Protocol today in its latest newsletter, HBO MAX’s head of Product Experience, Sarah Lyons, said that HBO MAX knew its apps weren’t ready, but had to push them out anyway. Why? Because of the coming competition from Disney+ and a few others.
HBO MAX launched on the same technology that powered HBO Go
Not a big surprise, but the new HBO MAX app launched on the same technology that had powered the HBO Go app. Executives had admitted that they knew it could never “handle what HBO MAX was going to do.” However that has changed, since HBO MAX has transitioned over to an entirely new platform. Thanks to WarnerMedia’s acquisition of You.i.TV. Since then, HBO MAX has been rolling out updates to its apps across all of the platforms that it is available on. This transition to this new platform has made the app about 50% more responsive. Which is no small feat. It’s also a much more visually appealing app now too. HBO MAX has also stated that this new underlying platform will allow for larger upgrades, like better discovery features and more branded hubs similar to what they have now. Of course, there are still questions floating around about Discovery+, now that their merger is complete, and they are now Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s likely that the merged app will be built on the You.i.TV platform too. But that might be a ways down the road.
