The recent mass takedowns on the Max streaming service bode poorly for the future of apps and animation.
Over the past few years, viewers have quickly learned that streaming services like Netflix are unreliable when it comes to maintaining a library of movies and shows. One of the latest examples is Voltron: Legendary Defender’s withdrawal from the pioneering streaming app.
But Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, home of HBO, is one of the services that has stalled the most. The ongoing purge of children’s anime is only going to get worse, as the streaming app appears to be going through another messy rebrand.
Bad sign for the future of Max’s kids & family brand
Max has removed several popular animated shows in recent months, including “Regular Show,” “Steven Universe” and “The Amazing World of Gumball.” But what has anime fans even more worried is Max’s latest rebranding.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service has a section called “Brand Spotlight” that highlights the streaming service’s biggest and most distinctive brands, including HBO, DC, Harry Potter, Kids & Family, and more. Unfortunately, Kids & Family has been removed from the brand spotlight and relegated to the genre section.
What’s shocking about this is that Max originally went out of its way to advertise itself as a place for cartoons, with the slogan “We’ve got the Cartoons” in its marketing campaign. This has become ironic over the years as Max continues to remove popular DC shows like Static Shock and Teen Titians.
While Kids & Family was removed from the Brand Spotlight section, Cartoon Network thankfully remained, but a look inside reveals just how many cartoons Warner Bros. Discovery has removed from its streaming app.
The only remaining major cartoons from the defunct network are Adventure Time, Craig of the Creek, and Season 8 of Teen Titans Go!. The only classic cartoon that remains is the original Powerpuff Girls.
Please note that this change is regional and limited to the US, with other countries such as Spain still showing Kids & Family as part of Max’s Brand Spotlight. Additionally, many of the shows that have been removed, such as Regular Show and Steven Universe, are also fully available in these regions.
What appears to be happening with the removal of all these cartoon shows is not a deliberate plan by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to destroy animation, but rather a potentially horribly timed license move. It is likely born out of greed, along with the entry into force or expiration of contracts and contracts.
Licenses, contracts, and streaming apps
Considering how many cartoons have been removed from Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming app and how embarrassingly barren it has become in the last year alone, the company has decided to remove Kids & Family from the U.S. brand spotlight. No wonder it did.
These removals probably won’t be the same as Infinity Train. OK KO! “Let’s Be Heroes” and “Close Enough” were done to avoid tax deductions or balance payments, but existing licensing agreements with other networks and streaming apps mean more was held. Therefore, why are many of these same shows still available in other regions?
However, in the US, shows like Steve Universe, Regular Show, and The Amazing World of Gumball are currently only available to stream on Disney-owned Hulu. It’s even more likely that Zaslav thought it would be more profitable to sell streaming licenses to competitors than to stream on Max themselves.
Max is at least keeping Adventure Time going, even if it’s thanks to ongoing spin-off shows like Fiona and Cake, which recently revealed the return of fan-favorite characters.
Fiona and Cake Season 2 is expected to be released on Max in late 2025 or early 2026.
