Surprise! Looney Tunes Becomes a Huge Hit on Tubi After Being Dumped by HBO Max

In the world of streaming, there are creators, there are curators, and there are the impatient clods who think success should come at the press of a “sequel” button. Warner Bros. Media CEO David Zaslav exemplifies the third.

I won’t recount the many, many ways Zaslav sucks at his job, but his lack of vision has provided opportunities for HBO Max’s competitors, specifically the streaming companies willing to cater to children.

Zaslav dumped “Sesame Street,” which will mosey over to Netflix. That service is doing a killer job appealing to kids, as demonstrated by my kids’ elementary school Halloween party, where dozens of girls gleefully shouted the lyrics to a song from “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” That animated musical is the biggest movie in Netflix history with 325.1 million views and counting.

Zaslav also booted “Looney Tunes” from HBO Max and Tubi couldn’t wait to snap up the classic cartoons. In August, Tubi snagged the rights to 789 animated shorts. According to Vulture, Tubi reports those cartoons now rank in Tubi’s top-ten best-performing series.

Samuel Harowitz, Tubi’s head of acquisitions, said, “We are in active negotiations to ensure that Tubi can be the home of Looney Tunes for quite a while — likely years.”

What’s Up, Doc?

So why did HBO Max fail to see the value in its animation library? Part of it comes with understanding your audience. People open HBO Max intending to watch grown-up programs like “Game of Thrones” or “Euphoria.” Its children’s section has always been poorly designed, with a lack of consideration for the type of person who’s using it. Kids navigate the kids’ section, so it’s got to be eye-catching and easy to understand.

Compare HBO Max’s “Kids & Family” page to Netflix’s Kids section. Which do you think appeals more to children?

Even if HBO Max had a great children’s library, its presentation is missing the mark. Netflix’s navigation is so good, kids will watch almost anything because of the outstanding thumbnails and animation.

While Tubi’s navigation isn’t vastly superior to HBO Max, it’s a free streaming service. It doesn’t have the same bar to clear. Content is king with free streamers, and 789 animated shorts featuring well-known characters are a good draw.

Interestingly, Tubi packages the shorts with three cartoons per “episode.” The “seasons” aren’t chronological. Each episode is a grab bag of different characters and eras. And that’s actually smart. While lesser streaming services may just dump 789 episodes on the platform and expect someone to choose a new one every 8 minutes, Tubi knows it’s better off bundling them in half-hour installments. No one wants to have to reach for the remote every 8 minutes.

Tubi is masterful at curation. Its categories like “Found Footage Horror,” “Nostalgia TV,” “Plot Twists & Curveballs,” and “Spy Movies” make it easy to key into a mood.

HBO Max often resembles a junk drawer filled with a mixture of diamonds and chewed gum. Why does my home screen show “The Pitt” and “Seeking Sister Wife” within mere pixels of each other? In what world does David Zaslav imagine someone turns on HBO Max and might be equally in the mood for a thrilling, award-winning drama… or reality slop that will make you dumber the instant you see the thumbnail?

Interestingly, Warner Bros. Discovery previously announced plans to launch their own free streaming service. This was so much a part of their roadmap, they included it in their Q2 investor presentation in 2022.

Had Warner Bros. Discovery invested in free streaming back then, Looney Tunes could have been a key engagement driver for kids, just as it is for Tubi. They could have provided limited episodes for free, while allowing full library access with an upgrade to paid HBO Max or something.

It’s a missed opportunity from a boneheaded leadership team. And if HBO Max wants to discard more of its treasured IP, it’s a sure bet a more creative group of curators can find a way to monetize it.