Disney+’s password-sharing rules are showing early signs of increasing subscriber totals
Disney+’s password-sharing rules are showing early signs of increasing subscriber totals
Disney is happy with the results of its initiatives to curb account sharing among subscribers so far.
Password-sharing restrictions may not be customer-friendly, but there’s no doubting the effect they can have on a streaming service’s bottom line. They can help convince viewers who have been using — but not paying for — a particular service to bite the bullet and sign up themselves, lest they lose access to their favorite shows and movies. Disney is one of the latest companies to begin enforcing rules against password sharing on its streamers, and the company’s chief financial officer Hugh Johnston said that everything is going well on that front thus far.
Key Details:
- Johnston said this week that Disney+ password-sharing rules are “working out well for us in terms of subscriber growth.”
- He still expects to see incrementally more benefits from the restrictions in the coming months.
- Disney+ allows customers to add a new subscriber to their account starting at $7 per month.
Johnston had the opportunity to discuss Disney’s initiatives at the UBS Media and Communications Conference on Monday. He informed questioners that the rules restricting account sharing are “working out well for us in terms of subscriber growth.”
Disney first updated the terms of service for its streamers to prohibit account sharing back in February, but didn’t begin enforcing those rules in a meaningful way until the fall of 2024. It uses essentially the same rules as Netflix, using a viewer’s location to determine if they’re streaming at home or not, and prompting users outside the home to enter a passcode to prove that they’re the actual account owner.
The new rules haven’t been enforced strictly enough, or for long enough, to show a big effect on Disney’s financials, but Johnston said that they are creating a small benefit in terms of new subscribers and revenue and that the benefits will augment incrementally in the coming quarters.
When viewers try to access a Disney+ account that doesn’t belong to them, they are prompted to sign up for their own or to have the account owner add a new user to their subscription. Customers can add a new viewer outside their home to a Disney+ account starting at $7 per month.
Disney is far from the only company to crack down on the sharing of streaming accounts. Netflix set the pace for other streamers in this regard, but Max and Disney+ weren’t far behind. NBCUniversal’s streamer Peacock also announced in early December that it would begin making stricter efforts to halt account sharing starting in 2025.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”