Two streaming platforms will stop password sharing very soon

If you’ve been enjoying someone else’s account, be warned: two streaming platforms are about to crack down on password sharing, so you better be ready to pay up.

Netflix once tweeted, “Love is sharing a password.” Oh, how times have changed. Now, the streaming service forces you to pay for an extra user or locks people out of their friends and family’s accounts if they’re outside the household.

Sadly, it worked in their favor: Netflix reported soaring profits since its new policy was enforced, a natural consequence of people having to pay for their own plans for the first time.

Now, amid constant price hikes and the rollout of more expensive ad-free tiers, two other streamers are following suit.

Disney Plus and Max password-sharing crackdowns are coming

According to CEO Bob Iger, Disney Plus will begin restricting password sharing “in earnest” in September 2024, while HBO’s Max will launch its crackdown later this year.

JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s president of global streaming, said restrictions on password sharing were a “meaningful opportunity, relative to the scale of our business.”

Don’t worry too much yet, though, because it won’t be rolled out widely until 2025 (albeit, that’s only a few months away… gulp).

Disney is being more proactive with its changes, with ‘paid sharing’ introduced in a few countries this summer. This has yet to reach the US, nor do we know how much it’ll cost to add another user to your account, but Iger believes the shift will go smoothly.

“We’ve had no backlash at all to the [paid sharing] notifications that have gone out and to the work that we’ve already been doing,” he said, as per The Verge.

On both platforms, it’s safe to expect something similar to what Netflix offers: plans that allow you to add an extra viewer outside your household for an additional monthly cost.

“Later this calendar year, account holders who want to allow access to individuals from outside their household will be able to add them to their accounts for an additional fee,” Disney’s CFO Hugh Johnston said earlier this year, as reported by The Wrap.

“While we are still in the early days and don’t expect notable benefits from these paid sharing initiatives until the back half of calendar 2024, we want to reach as large an audience as possible with our outstanding content. And we’re looking forward to rolling out this new functionality to improve the overall customer experience and grow our subscriber base.”

In the meantime, check out our guides to TV shows streaming this month and new movies you should add to your watch list.