Aug 3, 2026
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Add us on GoogleIf you open HBO Max on your phone this week, you might find something new to scroll. The company recently unrolled “HBO Max Shorts“ — a feed of clips from its own library that you swipe through, one after another.
It’s a peculiar move because HBO made its name on shows you sit down for, the ones you clear an evening to watch and argue about the next day. Now the same app has a tab that works like TikTok.
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That tab lands on a habit researchers have been tracking since 2004. Gloria Mark, Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, has timed how long people stay on one screen before switching away. In 2004, the average run lasted two and a half minutes. “In the last five, six years, we found it to average about 47 seconds,” she told the American Psychological Association in 2023. Half of what she measured came in at 40 seconds or less.
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Her research describes the person for whom HBO appears to be building now.
What the new HBO feed actually does
Every clip comes from a show already in the library. The Hollywood Reporter called it “trimmings of existing HBO Max programming” cut vertically to get people watching the full thing.
What’s new is how those clips reach you. An in-house AI tool scans thousands of hours of content, flags moments it predicts will grab attention and passes that shortlist to human editors who decide what runs. If a clip catches your eye, you can watch the full episode or save it for later without leaving the feed.
Right now it’s a small test with select iOS users in the U.S. But HBO Max says it will add more devices, more countries and sports clips.
“These new mobile features build on intuitive, familiar behaviors subscribers use every day,” said Liesel Kipp, Executive Vice President of Product Management at Warner Bros. Discovery, in the press release. That familiar behavior? Scrolling.
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Why a streaming company wants more of your time
HBO Max already has viewers’ money. Viewers pay $10.99, $18.49 or $22.99 a month depending on the plan, and the charge is the same whether viewers watch every night or never open the app. So why does it matter how long you stay in the app?
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Start with why people quit. Deloitte’s 2026 Digital Media Trends survey of 3,575 U.S. consumers found 41% had canceled a streaming service in the past six months. Deloitte didn’t ask why. But it did find that 73% are frustrated that their services keep raising prices, and 61% would drop even their favorite one over a $5 increase. Deloitte’s read is that streamers have hit “the limits to traditional pricing power.”
Warner Bros. Discovery raised HBO Max prices last October. So engagement is the lever that’s left, since a company that can’t charge more has to make the service harder to give up. Deloitte’s own conclusion is that streaming’s next era centers on keeping audiences engaged year-round. And 68% of subscribers now hold at least one ad-supported plan, up from 54% a year earlier — so. for a growing share of people, extra minutes in the app also mean extra ads sold.
How does the new feed affect the everyday viewer?
Nothing happens to your bill, and honestly, nothing has to happen at all. The feed is free, the shows are the same ones that were already there, and you can ignore it completely without missing anything.
What’s changed, instead, is how the app hooks those who do choose to engage with the feed. HBO is aiming to hook you in the few seconds before you close the app.
It’s worth knowing what the app is now built to do, so the next time you open it, notice whether you’re watching or scrolling. The subscription pays for the shows, and the scrolling is free.
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Godwin Oluponmile is a content specialist, SEO strategist and copywriter with seven years of expertise in finance, Web 3.0, B2B SaaS and technology. His work has been featured in publications such as Entrepreneur, HackerNoon, Blocktelegraph and Benzinga.
