Warner Bros. Discovery is now shaking things up on its streaming product, Max. The company will soon begin its password-sharing crackdown, requiring users to have their accounts on the platform. It remains unknown if Max will have the exact password-sharing rules that Netflix and Disney Plus implemented on their platforms, but it will no longer allow sharing one account.
Members of one household who live away from each other or friends paying for one account will face the massive changes Warner Bros. Discovery has lined up for Max, with a new focus for its streaming service.
Max Password Sharing Crackdown Is Coming
The latest Warner Bros. Discovery Q3 2024 earnings call not only discussed the company's businesses but also its plans to improve its Max streaming platform, with a password-sharing crackdown coming soon. There are no exact timelines for Max's anti-password sharing rules, but it was revealed by WBD (via The Verge) that these new rules will take effect in the upcoming months.
Starting in 2025, Max will send "gentle reminders" to subscribers they believe are not from the same household to no longer use the same account and create their own, alongside their separate subscriptions.
WBD is ramping things up for Max's growth in the industry, and this follows its notable third quarter performance where the streaming platform reported its biggest growth with 7.2 million new subscribers, helping increase its revenue.
What Does Max's Password Sharing Crackdown Mean?
The specifics were not yet revealed by Max during WBD's earnings call, but the company's chief financial officer (CFO) Gunnar Wiedenfels claimed that it will be applied to users who have no accounts yet. The CFO also mentioned that "multi-household" members will be asked to pay for extra accounts, but the company did not share the limits once these anti-password sharing rules apply.
Anti-Password Sharing Rules on Streaming Platforms
The biggest streaming platform worldwide, Netflix, is the first to introduce a password-sharing rules revamp to its subscribers, and while it first started to test the regulations in other countries, it soon made its way to large regions. In 2023, Netflix applied its new focus on anti-password sharing in the United States where all users who access one account were pushed to create and subscribe to their own, and later prevented them access.
It was a popular move from Netflix as other streaming platforms have followed in their footsteps, with one of the biggest rivals of the company, Disney Plus, also announcing their plans to crack down on users' shared accounts. Earlier this year, Disney Plus' password sharing rules took into effect and prevented users who are not from the same homes, or at least login via the same network every month are allowed to use the same account.
Netflix has seen the benefits of the password-sharing crackdown as the company previously reported that it helped boost sign-ups and subscriptions from new users, eventually leading to a rise in its revenue. This promising move has been considered by many platforms, including Max, with WBD now ready to begin its wave of crackdowns against users sharing a single account.
