What you need to know
- Warner Bros. Discovery announces that it will begin cracking down on password sharing in Max "later this year" and into 2025.
- The company sees this as a chance to grow as Max has suffered profit losses in 2022 and 2023.
- Max is also interested in bringing new ad formats, such as shoppable ads, to users on the platform.
The streaming service Max is preparing to usher in some changes regarding password sharing later this year.
According to TheWrap, Warner Bros. Discovery wants to launch a plan to crack down on users sharing passwords later in 2024, with a larger rollout in 2025 (via ArsTechnica). On Monday (Mar. 4), JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and gaming, said, "we think, relative to the scale of our business, it’s a meaningful opportunity."
He added, "obviously, Netflix has implemented [its password crackdown] extremely successfully. We’re gonna be doing that starting later this year and into 25."
Perrette suggests its plans to crack down on sharing could signify a "growth opportunity." Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly posted a loss of $55 million in Q4 2023, which was a decent turnaround from its $217 million loss a year prior. Unfortunately, Perrette did not go into detail about what this crackdown could look like or if we could see a fee similar to what Netflix did for "extra members."
Aside from cracking down on passwords, it's also been reported that Max wants to introduce a new set of ads for viewers. Perrette stated they want content shown on Max to be "synonymous with ads" moving forward.
The company is mulling over "ad format enhancements" like shoppable ads.
Netflix started a trend when it debuted its password-sharing crackdown despite it being quite controversial. Those with an account who weren't living in their primary household were notified about the change and given the chance to take their data with them to start anew. However, Netflix gave users the option to take on an extra $7.99 to their monthly bill if they'd like to add an extra person who wasn't living at home with them.
Meanwhile, the announcement from Max comes on the heels of Hulu preparing to tighten the reigns on password sharing. The service notified users via email that, starting March 14, it will "prohibit" them from sharing passwords with "non-household members." Hulu added that it will analyze any potentially rule-breaking accounts and reserves the right to either limit or "terminate" access completely.
Disney Plus introduced its password-sharing crackdown in August, which saw policies change last year and into 2024. The company looked not only at creating more monetization opportunities but also to rectify its loss of subscribers.
