Bloys Meets World

Casey Bloys is steering HBO through a transformative moment in the entertainment business—one defined by constantly changing audience habits, platform pivots, and business uncertainties. As chairman and chief executive of HBO and Max content, Bloys recently made headlines by bringing back the HBO Max name, signaling a renewed focus on the kind of high-end storytelling the brand helped define.

In a Q&A with Status, Bloys explained the thinking behind the rebrand reversal, the breakout success of “The Pitt,” and why HBO continues to bet on weekly rollouts over binge releases. He also weighs in on the evolving viewing habits of Gen Z, the role of A.I. in entertainment, and how HBO is positioning itself amid a flood of competition.

Plus, Bloys dished on “The White Lotus,” Mike White’s “Survivor” stint, and whether he had any regrets on the controversial change of the show’s iconic score.

Below is our Q&A, lightly edited for style.

Let’s start with the obvious: Warner Bros. Discovery is bringing back the HBO Max name. When the original rebrand to Max was announced, you publicly defended the move—saying it would help preserve the HBO brand by keeping it separate from shows that didn’t fit its prestige identity. What changed?

When we launched Max, we clearly stated that we were looking to be something for everyone. HBO is not a “something for everyone” brand. Kids, tween shows, food, lifestyle…was viewed as too big a stretch for the brand. Today, I feel we have a clear strategy that prioritizes scripted drama and comedy that is differentiated as well as Pay-1 theatricals, documentaries, and crime from ID. This is much more aligned with HBO, so we decided to return to the name.

“The Pitt” was as strong as any recent HBO hit—and it drove serious viewership for Max. So, I'm curious: Why wasn’t it branded as an HBO original? And can you tease anything about season two?

We could not be happier with “The Pitt,” and it was initially an experiment—which is why it was a Max Original—that succeeded in every way. We set out to see if a lower-cost drama that followed a more broadcast television format could sustain 15 episodes. John, Scott, Noah and their team delivered something really special.

I like that the Max Original brand gives us the freedom to think wider in this way and we’ll be looking to do more.

As far as next season, they are starting production now and it will return in January. I believe it is out there that the storyline will take place over the fourth of July weekend.

I came to “The Pitt” late and binged the whole thing in a weekend—which, honestly, made it even better. You’ve long defended weekly drops, but are there any scenarios where the binge model might be adopted by HBO Max?

Though we’ve had some series where we may drop a couple episodes initially, we strongly believe in the weekly rollout model. It has proven to be successful time and time again with the audience growing week-to-week on “The Pitt,” “The Penguin,” “Mare of Easttown,” “Chernobyl,” and many more, fueled by word-of-mouth. Some will choose to wait and binge a show like you did for “The Pitt,” and we are happy to give our subscribers both options.

"The White Lotus" is one of your hottest properties. How will Mike White deliver on season four while he is also busy competing in "Survivor"? And I must ask, do you maybe just a little bit regret the score change in season three?

Mike being on “Survivor” will not interfere with the show. Knowing Mike, he will likely find a lot of inspiration while competing and “The White Lotus” will only benefit. As far as the score, well, I guess you know a show is a hit when The New York Times does a feature on the composer leaving. Zero regret on the score change.

Let’s talk generational shift: Gen Z seems less captivated by scripted TV and more glued to TikTok and YouTube. How does HBO stay culturally central in a world where the algorithm—not the auteur—drives attention?

I am confident that the art of long form scripted will be just fine. As we age, viewing patterns change. I grew up watching MTV music videos all day and the same was said of us, that we would never be able to pay attention to TV or movies in the same way. I have two 18-year-olds and they and their friends watch a lot of scripted content, albeit on their laptops.

Worth noting that 3 of the biggest Gen Z movie stars—Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi—broke through on an “old fashioned” scripted show, “Euphoria.”

Apple TV+ has been inching into the prestige TV lane with shows like “Severance” and “The Studio.” How do you compete with a company that has a $3 trillion war chest and little pressure to turn a profit from its content division? Do you see them as your biggest competitor on the prestige TV front?

I hope everyone does good shows because it is good for the industry. Over my 20 years here, I have been asked how I feel about the emerging competition of AMC, FX, Showtime, Starz, Netflix, Amazon, etc. Business models and resources may differ but that is out of our control. I have found it is best to keep our heads down and stay focused on what we are doing. I feel our track record is pretty good when we do that.

At the “House of the Dragon” premiere, you joked about pricey dragons with the WBD board in the room. But seriously—how do you balance expensive creative swings in an era when most the industry is slashing budgets?

Everyone must manage budgets. That has always been the reality of our business. Any programmer will be happy to take more money but we have what it takes to deliver a strong slate to our audience.

Where we are a bit different is that the team does take their time developing shows, probably a good amount more time than other places. But all you can do is put in the work and hope for the best.

A lot of executives I have spoken to have said A.I. will never write something as sharp as a show like “Succession” (we'll see). But outside writing, are there other areas where you see A.I. playing a real role in the creative process? And might we see a ChatGPT partnership to bring the tech into the product, like Netflix just did with search?

A.I. being used inside the U.I. can be beneficial whether it be search, recommendation or captioning, but I have no desire to bring it into the creative process of storytelling. My view on A.I. is that it is a technology enhancement. If production and our app can benefit from its use…great, but I will continue working with human writers, creators and showrunners.