HBO Max Is Making One Big Change to Help You Find Your Next Show

CE-Sphere Staff

Wed, July 29, 2026 at 6:57 PM UTC

Photo Credit: HBO Max

Warner Bros. Discovery is bringing a vertical video feed to HBO Max, adding a new discovery tool designed to help subscribers find something new to watch. The feature is called "HBO Max Shorts" and will be accessible from an icon on the bottom navigation menu.

The feed will show trailers, clips, and bonus content from the HBO Max library. It will also be tailored to users based on their watch history, making the feature a recommendation surface inside the app rather than a general promotional rail. From a clip, users can jump directly into a show or movie, or add that title to their list for later viewing.

HBO Max is entering a format already used elsewhere in streaming. Netflix, Disney Plus, and Peacock already offer TikTok-like vertical video feeds that surface content users may find interesting. HBO Max is now adding its own version, aligning the service with a discovery pattern that has become increasingly familiar on mobile platforms.

AI assists, editors decide

Warner Bros. Discovery said the clips behind the feature are created through a combination of in-house AI tooling and editorial selection. The company described the process in detail, saying: "The clips for this feature are powered by an AI tool built in-house, which helps human editors select and verticalize content by using machine learning algorithms that utilize scene-level metadata to comb through thousands of hours of titles and suggests the most compelling, high-impact scenes for discovery."

The company added that HBO Max editors choose which clips best represent the service's programming, including "jaw dropping moments, pivotal plot twists, and visually stunning sequences." Those clips are then rendered into a new vertical video experience for seamless playback.

That workflow matters because it positions HBO Max Shorts as a curated recommendation system rather than a fully automated clip machine. The in-house tool identifies candidate scenes across the HBO Max catalog, while editors retain control over which moments appear in the feed. For viewers, the result should be a mobile-first preview layer built around familiar HBO Max titles, with a direct path into full-length playback.

Photo Credit: HBO Max

Limited test first, wider rollout later

HBO Max Shorts will be tested first with "select iOS users" in the US before expanding to additional markets and devices. Warner Bros. Discovery also said the feature will later incorporate sports content and continue to refine as users interact with it.

The phased rollout keeps the initial test narrow, but the stated expansion path points to a broader role for vertical video inside HBO Max. For streaming subscribers who browse from phones before casting or switching to a TV, this gives HBO Max another way to turn short clips into full-session viewing.

Conversational search is also being tested

Warner Bros. Discovery is also testing an "experimental conversational search experience" for HBO Max. That feature lets users search for content with natural language queries and is available first for adult users on Android in the US.

Netflix is testing a similar feature, according to the report. Together, the two HBO Max tests show the service adding more interface layers around discovery: one based on short vertical video, and another based on conversational search. Both features aim at the same problem streaming platforms continue to face: getting users from a large catalog to a specific title with less friction.

Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.

About our ads

Recommended articles