HBO Max is embracing vertical video as part of its efforts to make it easier to discover new content and improve the user experience on mobile devices with the launch of two new features that provide U.S. subscribers with new ways to browse, sample, and explore its premium library of programming.
“HBO Max Shorts” is designed to help users discover something to watch by highlighting iconic and memorable scenes from the HBO Max library in a vertical, scrollable feed.
Users can tap the “Shorts” icon on the bottom navigation menu to browse trailers, clips, and bonus content, making it easier to discover a new favorite series or film. Content within a user’s feed is customized to individual tastes and preferences based on watch history. If a title sparks a user’s interest, they can start watching immediately or add it to “My List” directly from the feed.
This feature is initially being tested with select iOS users in the U.S. and then will be rolled out across more devices and markets.
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.
Once the tool has suggested these clips, HBO Max editors decide which best represent the stories viewers love and capture jaw dropping moments, pivotal plot twists, and visually stunning sequences. These clips are then rendered in a new vertical video experience to ensure seamless playback.
Looking ahead, "HBO Max Shorts” will expand to include additional devices and markets, incorporate sports content, and refine as users interact with the feature.
"We're thrilled to launch this application of AI to accelerate the creation of these clips and look forward to quickly expanding to make even more of our amazing content offering discoverable through this new feature,” explained Deepna Devkar, senior vice president of machine learning engineering at HBO Max.
Along with the new vertical shorts feed, HBO Max also announced an experimental conversational search experience.
Initially available for adult users in the U.S., on Android mobile and accessible from the search page under “Ask HBO Max,” this experience uses natural language understanding and semantic search to interpret the intent behind a query and recommend relevant videos, even when the exact search terms aren't present in the metadata.
Select subscribers can now search for terms such as “in the mood for a comedy” or "dysfunctional family drama" or "best movie for a girls night in,” to find relevant content. Availability of this feature will also eventually be rolled out to more devices and markets.
“These new mobile features build on intuitive, familiar behaviors subscribers use every day. Both ‘HBO Max Shorts’ and ‘conversational search’ translate those behaviors into new ways to discover programming across the HBO Max service, making it easier and more seamless for subscribers to find something to watch," said Liesel Kipp, executive vice president, product management, Warner Bros. Discovery.
