Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max to Crack Down on Password Sharing

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max will join competitors Netflix and Disney+ in cracking down on password sharing. This new development means that only one household can use a password, and others cannot share it.

JB Perrette, WBD’s CEO and global streaming and games president discussed the change during Morgan Stanley’s 2024 Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco. Perrette explained that the initiative would begin launching later this year and roll out more widely in 2025.

“I’m conscious of not over-selling [the password crackdown] because you see Netflix’s success,” Perrette explained, per Yahoo Finance. “But Netflix was in market for 17 years. That means people are sharing passwords for 17 years,” he continued. “We’ve been in market for four, if you count the HBO Max launch. And obviously, we’re not quite at the same scale, but relative to the scale of our business, it’s a meaningful opportunity.”

MAX reported to get stricter with password-sharing this year https://t.co/Vu9MHmrEwf

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By ending password sharing, streaming services hope to boost individual user subscriptions. It prevents users from sharing passwords with people outside of their households by requiring a device logged into the account to log into the home Wi-Fi network of that account at least once every 30 days.

Perrette also discussed an interest in changing the types of ads its streaming service shows. Streaming services tend to make more money per user on average when they use a streaming subscription with ads rather than paying more for no commercials. Disney+ has already implemented this policy, rolling out a lower-priced tier with commercials.

This comes as providers need help to hang on to their user bases and streaming becomes an even more crowded field. This switch forces consumers to make tough choices about which services they can afford. Many users are logging out of their accounts permanently or switching services when there are shows or series on a particular service they wish to view.

It is not clear if the crackdown will also extend to Discovery+.