According to a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has officially launched its crackdown on password and account sharing, unveiling a new “paid sharing program” for Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. and various regions worldwide. This move comes after months of speculation, with Disney teasing the changes during earnings calls earlier this year. The program marks a significant step toward curbing account sharing, a widespread issue across streaming platforms.
As mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter, under the new policy, Disney+ offers two options for users currently sharing their accounts with others outside their household. According to blog post published Wednesday by The Walt Disney Company, users can add an “Extra Member” to their account at a discounted rate. The price is $6.99 per month for Disney+ Basic or $9.99 for Disney+ Premium. Only one Extra Member can be added per account, and the option is not available as part of the Disney Bundle, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Alternatively, users can choose to create their own Disney+ subscription. For those taking this route, Disney allows for a seamless transfer of an existing profile to the new account, preserving watch history and personalized settings.
Disney+ will enforce its new rules using a combination of subscription activity, linked devices and internet connections to detect a user’s “household automatically.” If it detects viewing outside of the established household, users may be prompted to enter a one-time password to verify that the activity is either in a new location or part of legitimate travel.
lso mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter, the timing of Disney’s crackdown aligns with upcoming price increases for many Disney+ plans and the highly anticipated releases of Agatha All Along and Inside Out 2. The move follows similar actions by other streaming giants, including Netflix, which implemented its password-sharing restrictions last year with considerable success. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max has also announced plans to introduce its crackdown on account sharing later this year.
As Disney looks to boost subscriptions and limit account sharing, this new paid sharing program will significantly impact how users access Disney+ content across households. It would not be a surprise if this change caused more people to leave the platform than join it. With everything becoming increasingly expensive, streaming services seem to want to take even more money subscribers are already paying them. However, we will have to wait and see if this change affects the company in a negative light.