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Gemini still calls HBO Max “Max”

HBO Max went back to its old name in July 2025. In mapou's September study, Gemini used the current name only 28% of the time in single answers, and called it Max every time it came up in a subscriber conversation. ChatGPT got it right 86% of the time.

of Gemini's single answers used the name HBO Max
28%
Gemini conversation mentions still called it Max
3 of 3
of ChatGPT's single answers used the current name
86%

Published October 4, 2026. mapou streaming study, September 2026: four AI engines, every answer that mentioned the service.

In July 2025, Max changed its name back to HBO Max. Fourteen months later, one of the big AI assistants still hasn't caught up.

In mapou's September streaming study, Gemini mentioned the service in 39 answers. It used only the current name in 4 of them. In 21 it used only "Max", and in 14 it used both.

The numbers

How each AI assistant names HBO Max
EngineAnswersHBO Max onlyMax onlyBothCurrent-name share
ChatGPT18152186%
Claude32224678%
Grok381813757%
Gemini394211428%

Current-name share counts an answer using both names as half. Answers that mentioned the service at all.

Across all four engines, the current name won 57% of the time.

Conversations show the same split. HBO Max came up in 11 of the 20 subscriber conversations mapou ran. Every time Gemini mentioned it (3 times), it called it Max. ChatGPT and Claude used HBO Max every time.

The odd part is ESPN. ESPN+ became ESPN Select in late 2025, after the HBO Max change. All four engines used the new name 98% of the time. So this isn't just how recent the rename is.

What it means

mapou's read: "Max" had two years as the official name, with a lot of articles, reviews and help pages written in that window. That's the material Gemini is reading. A short, common word also makes it harder for a page to signal that the name has changed. ESPN Select is a new, distinctive name, with no backlog of pages using it the old way.

What this means for brands. A rename isn't finished when the logo changes. Until the pages AI reads use the new name, some assistants will keep using the old one in front of your customers. Track it per engine, because they don't move together.

What this doesn't show

This is one month of answers, and counts per engine are small (18 to 39 answers). It shows which name each assistant used, not whether the shopper was confused by it.

How we measured this

Single answers
101 streaming questions asked once each of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok in September 2026. Every answer that named the service was classed as HBO Max only, Max only, or both.
Conversations
20 simulated subscriber conversations (5 personas, each run once per engine), 50 assistant answers. HBO Max came up in 11 of them.
Score
Current-name share counts an answer that uses both names as half.
Engines
ChatGPT (gpt-5.4-mini), Gemini, Claude and Grok through one shared search layer with web search on.
Limits
Small counts per engine: 18 to 39 single answers and 1 to 4 conversation mentions. One month of answers.

Cite this article

mapou, “Gemini still calls HBO Max “Max”,” mapou.ai, October 4, 2026. https://mapou.ai/articles/gemini-still-calls-hbo-max-max

Reporters can reach mapou through for more on the method, other breakdowns or a comment.

Renamed a product? See what AI calls it.

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