The times of with the ability to share a single streaming service account with your loved ones and pals are shortly coming to an finish.

Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service previously generally known as HBO Max, is the newest firm to announce that it is going to be cracking down on accounts it suspects of password-sharing.

The information of Max’s password-sharing crackdown comes instantly from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO JB Perrette whereas talking at Morgan Stanley’s 2024 Know-how, Media & Telecom Convention on Monday.

Max will start informing password-sharing subscribers of the corporate’s new coverage enforcement later this yr with the intent to totally roll out paid sharing in 2025.

Streaming providers are all cracking down on password-sharing

This information should not be all too shocking. Max is simply the newest streaming service on the rising checklist of suppliers cracking down on password-sharing. Netflix was the primary of the large streamers to finish password-sharing final yr. Disney adopted go well with simply final month by prohibiting password-sharing in its insurance policies for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

Password-sharing. as considered by most of those streaming providers, is often outlined as a paying subscriber permitting people exterior of their family entry to their account. Streamers usually present plans which permit for a number of units inside a family to entry content material on a single paid account. Nevertheless, permitting others exterior the paying subscribers’ family to take action is shortly turning into in opposition to the foundations throughout the trade.

Streaming providers which have already instituted crackdowns have usually despatched out emails warning customers suspected of password-sharing. Netflix has rolled out add-on plans which permit subscribers to pay further so as to add people exterior of their family to their account. Disney’s streaming providers have but to offer such an providing to clients however plan to launch such a characteristic later this yr.

The information comes as Max struggles to develop within the extremely aggressive streaming TV market. Warner Bros. Discovery made a extremely controversial determination final yr when it determined to drop the favored “HBO” model in its streaming providers identify, turning HBO Max into simply “Max.” On the finish of 2023, the corporate introduced that Max had 52 million subscribers, down greater than two and a half million subscribers from the earlier yr.

Nevertheless, the unique reveals on Max are among the many most sought out. HBO’s Sport of Thrones, Home of the Dragon, and The Final of Us have topped the most-pirated present lists over the yr.

Whereas Max’s determination to place a cease to password-sharing could also be unpopular amongst customers who’re, nicely, sharing passwords, it is confirmed to achieve success for different streaming providers. Netflix noticed tens of 1000’s of new signups in simply the 2 days instantly after it cracked down on the apply. By the top of that quarter, Netflix added 8.8 million new subscribers, considerably greater than the two.4 million new subscribers it noticed the earlier quarter when customers may nonetheless share their passwords.

We’ll quickly see if Max is simply as profitable with its personal password-sharing crackdown.