
HBO Max is adding new ways for audiences to find content.
The streaming platform quietly launched two major new streaming changes, with the intention of making it easier for viewers to find something to watch. HBO Max’s TV shows have become a mainstay of the streaming climate, thanks to most of its series being same-day releases for linear series on HBO. This has included everything from the ongoing House of the Dragon season 3, to the yet-to-return The Last of Us. It’s also earned recognition on its own thanks to The Pitt, which has been nominated for Emmys two seasons in a row.
Now, HBO Max has announced two new ways for its audiences to find TV shows and movies to watch, thanks to new mobile features now available to subscribers. The first is “HBO Max Shorts,” an AI-powered tool that presents “memorable and iconic scenes” from various shows and movies to entice viewers into watching them. This includes clips from the show, trailers, and bonus content, curated by AI and sifted through by HBO Max editors to determine what to show audiences. This function is available on iOS in the US, with additional availability to come.
Check out what Deepna Devkar, SVP, Machine Learning Engineering said about the new Shorts function:
We’re thrilled to launch this application of AI to accelerate the creation of these clips and look forward to quickly expanding to make even more of our amazing content offering discoverable through this new feature.
But Android isn’t being left in the dust. US Android users now have access to “an experimental conversational search experience,” which can be found under the page “Ask HBO Max.” Subscribers can now search using various conversational terms and phrases to find potential content to watch, with some examples being “in the mood for a comedy,” or even “best movie for a girls night in.” The function creates a casual approach to searching for things to watch on the platform, with an emphasis on audience phrasing instead of concrete search terms.
Liesel Kipp, the Executive Vice President of Product Management at Warner Bros. Discovery, also made a statement about both of HBO Max’s new mobile search functions:
These new mobile features build on intuitive, familiar behaviors subscribers use every day. Both ‘HBO Max Shorts’ and ‘conversational search’ translate those behaviors into new ways to discover programming across the HBO Max service, making it easier and more seamless for subscribers to find something to watch.
These search functions tap into AI functionality more than ever before, with HBO Max’s programs being curated based on two unique yet similar programs. Both of these emphasize the idea of mobile viewers getting more functionality for their searches, while also giving audiences a deeper look into HBO Max’s diverse library outside just scrolling through various categories. It makes the process more personal, delving into what viewers look for in a show in order to better recommend them. However, both are still in early stages, meaning this is just the start of the platform’s new recommendation feature.
As HBO Max continues to broaden its horizons, this new search function acts as the perfect continuation for the streaming service to make search improvements on mobile. Because of how big a library the streaming service has, both the Shorts function and new search function make it so audiences can more readily find the type of content they’re looking for. While it’s all in an experimental phase for right now, the slow rollout means the company can iron out any kinks that show up, giving audiences a better look at the types of movies and shows they want to watch.





