Warner Bros. Discovery Cracks Down on Password Sharing
So, like, the whole password-sharing crackdown thing is happening for Max users, you know? On Tuesday, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service was all like, “Hey, we’re gonna let our subscribers add friends and family members who don’t live in their house to their plans.” Max is gonna let each subscription account add one person who doesn’t live with them for $7.99 a month. But, like, they gotta live in the same country, you know?
The whole push for this comes as streamers are trying to figure out how to make more money with all the content they keep adding. Max streams super popular shows like HBO dramas “The White Lotus” and “The Last of Us.” They also have their own cool originals like “Hacks” and “The Pitt.”
JB Perrette, who’s the big boss at Warner Bros Discovery’s global streaming division, was all like, “This option is gonna help viewers enjoy our awesome content at a great price, and give subscribers more control over their accounts.” So, like, it’s all about making things easier for people, you know?
Most streaming services only let you share passwords with people you live with, right? But then, as the streaming wars heated up, more and more people started sharing passwords with their partners and adult kids. At first, streamers were all about getting more viewers and were cool with sharing passwords. But then, investors started getting antsy and wanted to see more profits, so companies like Netflix started cracking down.
Netflix was the first to let subscribers add non-household members to their plan, and it totally helped them make more money. They tried it out in other countries first before bringing it to the U.S. in 2023. By 2022, they figured that over 100 million households were watching without paying. In 2024, Disney+ and Hulu followed suit and started cracking down on password sharing too.
So, yeah, it looks like the days of freely sharing passwords are coming to an end. Not really sure why this matters, but it seems like a big deal for the streaming world. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like we’re gonna see more changes like this in the future. Who knows, right? But for now, it looks like we’ll have to start paying up if we wanna keep watching all our favorite shows.
