Many of the major streaming platforms are cracking down on account sharing to help boost subscriber numbers, and Max is up next. Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) streaming service has been eyeing the move for over a year now, and says it’ll start enforcing its rules soon.
In a Q1 earnings call, spotted by Variety, the company said it will first begin with gentle nudges to encourage users to set up its new “Extra Member Add-On” profiles.
WBD currently uses “very soft messaging” on password sharing, but “that will start getting firmer and more visible to subscribers over the months to come,” said CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
“I think it’s going to increase and really be a more 12-month to 18-month initiative as it rolls out through more subscriber cohorts here in the US,” he added. It’ll go global “later in the year and into 2026” alongside “more assertive messaging on the password sharing.”
Max launched its extra member add-on last month, allowing you to include an extra account with someone outside your household for $7.99 more per month. You can spin off existing user profiles so they can keep their streaming history and not have to start from scratch on recommendations. You can have one add-on per an account, and that person can live at any address, even after the password crackdown takes full force.
Max hasn’t shared an end date for password sharing altogether, but it sounds like you’ll need to create your own account by the end of 2026.
The terms of service for Max give us a glimpse at how the company may enforce this change. The Max website says its parent company reserves the right to use information on IP addresses, device IDs, and user activity to determine whether a user truly lives at the designated address.
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Netflix uses a similar system to monitor password sharing by requiring device connections to the home network once every 31 days. We have some workarounds, but no promises on how long those will last.
WBD previously shared it would begin its password crackdown in 2024, but it appears it was just laying the groundwork for its rollout to heat up over 2025. Max costs $9.99 a month for its plan with ads, jumping to $16.99 a month for its Ad-Free plan, and $20.99 for its Ultimate Ad-Free plan that gives you 4K streaming and Dolby Atmos sound quality.
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About James Peckham
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