I'm literally begging other streamers to copy this Max feature

Summary

Including a “Leaving Soon” feature helps subscribers know what’s exiting the service.
Max has quietly improved, offering live sports and a bundle with Hulu and Disney+.
To stay competitive, streamers could improve, like adopting Max’s “Leaving Soon” feature.

With the exception, for the most part, of first-party content like Netflix’s Stranger Things and Max’s Game of Thrones, you always know where many shows will be streaming. That’s not the case for things not made directly by the streamer, however, and it’s not shocking to see shows jumping around on services. In some cases, you might see the same thing on multiple streamers at the same time.

For example, both Friends and The Office used to be Netflix staples, but they’ve since found new homes on Max and Peacock respectively. Content coming and going is nothing new, but it can be a slap in the face if something you thought was somewhere is no longer there. A way around this is to warn subscribers that something is about to leave the service. Max has a feature like this that I wish all streamers would get around to copying. Something that’s similar is what Netflix does with things leaving the service, but that only applies to things you stumble across randomly or already have on your list.

It’s nice that Netflix puts the “Leaving Soon” banner over movies and shows getting ready to leave, but I wish the service would go a step further and put everything together neatly in a list on the app like they do on the website. With the rising costs, it’s only fair for Netflix to add more features.

HBO Max

HBO’s streaming platform with access to thousands of TV shows and movies, DC Universe content, HBO Original series content, and more.

Subscription cost: $9.99 with ads

HBO Max on an iPhone next to a cloud with a slash through it.

If you use someone else’s Max account, I have bad news

Max has announced it will soon begin its effort to crackdown on password-sharing.

Max has a good thing going here

Other streamers should copy this

Max

I understand streamers wouldn’t typically want to draw attention to things leaving their service, but it’s an essential feature for subscribers. There’s so much to keep track of as a viewer, and Max’s list makes it easy to know when my time is running out. Something leaving a service is one thing, but it’s another thing when I don’t know what its future landing spot is. Instead of having to worry about that and keep track of it, I can just take a look through the list and figure out what to watch next.

Although the lists are typically too long for me to watch absolutely everything, it helps me prioritize some things to focus on before they go. The reality is I have an ever-growing watchlist that I keep track of with Letterboxd, but even with that, I fall behind. Luckily, Letterboxd has a nice feature that tells me when something on my watchlist debuts on a streamer, so even if I’m not keeping track of where something’s going, this app does it for me.

At their core, the majority of these streamers work the exact same as each other, so small things like this list from Max are what standout for me and help differentiate them. I don’t understand why they can’t all copy this feature, so it’s something I chalk up to Max as a win right now.

I’m not saying Max is the best streamer, but it’s small things like that that help it stand out from the competition. It also helps that I’m a fan of A24 films, a distribution company that typically releases its movies first on Max.

Netflix isn’t worth it anymore

If you want your money’s worth, you have to pay up, making Netflix an even harder sell.

Max has been quietly adding value

Not a bad service

Pocket-lint / HBO Max

While Max might have a bit of a bad reputation thanks to Warner CEO David Zaslav and his cancelation and removal of projects, the app itself has quietly become one of the best streaming apps available. The addition of live sports from the Turner networks, AEW simulcasting, and a lineup of hit shows like The Penguin and House of the Dragon, it’s a service that has a decent backlog of things to watch that don’t appear to be in danger of leaving any time soon.

The live sports are a nice touch that comes at no extra cost, although I’m worried about what the future holds as companies continue to invest more in them. There’s a strong possibility this could come at the cost of original programming, and we’ve already seen it become a reality in the case of Prime Video.

Perhaps the biggest thing Max has going for it is the bundle with Hulu and Disney+. With streaming costs constantly rising, it’s important to save some cash where I can. In this case, paying $30 for an ad-free bundle including all three of those services is tough to beat. If you’re okay with seeing ads, you can drop the price of all three down to $17. It’s important to take small wins where you can, and that’s an area where Max lets you do that.

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There are still improvements to be made

Nothing’s perfect

A weird thing to me was when Max announced things like The Batman would be streaming on other platforms. For a time, The Batman was available on Tubi, which was odd because Warner Bros. owns the movie outright. The point of making streaming services like Disney+ and Max was for people to always know where certain things would be, but eventually we saw DC Comics content move over to other platforms. Even Netflix became the home to some of the DC properties for a little bit, a surprising thing to see considering the two platforms are meant to be rivals.

There are also some things I’d like to see Max copy that are currently available on other platforms. The big one is Amazon Prime Video’s X-ray mode that lets you instantly see what actor is on the screen. This is huge for people who see a face they recognize but can’t name the person. Often times, at least for me, it leads to me pausing the movie and looking up the cast. Apple TV+ has the same functionality, but it only works for Apple original shows.

I don’t want all of the streaming services to feel exactly the same as that’d sort of defeat the purpose of having them in the first place, but I feel like they could all borrow some inspiration from each other. First things first, I want to know what is leaving a streaming service and when it’s happening all from the confines of the app itself. What Netflix does currently works well for a lot of people, but I still want them to bring over Max’s best feature.