Following in the footsteps of Netflix, HBO Max will begin cracking down on password sharing beginning next month. A report from Deadline relays that JB Perrette, who heads up the streaming division at Warner Bros. Discovery, said that the company will start taking more concrete measures to prevent unauthorized password sharing. Perrette’s remarks came during the company’s earnings conference call earlier this week.
Perrette said that user warnings about password sharing have been relatively gentle over the past few months. Soon, though, that messaging is poised to become a bit more direct and aggressive. “You’ll actually start to see the messaging,” Perrette said, “which right now has been a fairly soft, cancelable messaging, start to get more fixed such that people will have to take action as opposed to right now sort of have it be a voluntary process.”
HBO Max has been planning to address password sharing for some time now. Back in early 2024, it announced a multi-year plan to slowly address the issue. As part of the initial plan, users suspected of improperly sharing their HBO Max password were served a message with options to add someone else to the account. Now, nearly two years later, the higher-ups at Warner Bros. Discovery are ready to tighten their grip.
HBO Max hopes to emulate the success Netflix had with its crackdown
Back when Netflix’s streaming service was relatively new, the company actually welcomed password sharing. At the time, Netflix wanted as many eyeballs watching its content as possible, and if that meant people were sharing their passwords with friends so that they could binge shows like “House of Cards,” well, Netflix viewed it as a net positive. Over time, though, subscriber metrics became incredibly important for the company’s stock price. In turn, Netflix in 2023 decided to start cracking down on password sharing.
It was initially unclear how Netflix’s actions would impact its user base. Would viewers simply stop watching Netflix once they lost free access? Or, would these viewers open up their wallets and sign up for their own Netflix accounts? The answer, we would soon find out, was the latter. Speaking to the addictive nature of Netflix, the impact of Netflix’s password crackdown was immediate. In just a few months, Netflix saw its subscriber base increase by about 27%. A few months later, in April of 2024, Netflix posted an incredibly strong and profitable quarter as its subscriber base reached 270 million users. Though neither of these developments can be attributed solely to Netflix’s password crackdown, many analysts believe it played an integral role.
When Warner Bros. Discovery finally clamps down on password sharing, it will inevitably be met with backlash. Don’t expect company executives to care, though. Recall, this is the same company that didn’t think twice about angering its user base when it tried, and ultimately failed, to rebrand HBO as Max.
