Per The Hollywood Reporter, Max is poised to join the ranks of streamers aiming to reduce password sharing, with Warner Bros. Discovery gearing up to initiate its crackdown from late 2024 onwards into 2025.
During the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference, J.B. Perrette, President and CEO of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled intentions to curb password sharing, drawing inspiration from Netflix’s effective enforcement. He referred to Netflix’s process of password crackdown as something that was “implemented extremely successfully.” This initiative is a pivotal component of WBD’s multifaceted strategy to enhance streaming revenues.
“We’re going to be doing that starting later this year and into ‘25, which is another growth opportunity for us,” Perette said, with regard to this new crackdown on sharing passwords.
When he was asked about the scale of a potential revenue opportunity this crackdown represents, Perette said it’s “a meaningful opportunity,” but that he was cautious on “overselling it” due to the fact that Netflix’s 260 million subscribers and longer history compared to Max’s 97.7 million is a significant factor.
“I’m conscious of not overselling because you see Netflix’s success. Netflix was in market for 17 years. That means people were sharing passwords for 17 years. We’ve been in the market for four, if you count the HBO Max launch, and obviously we’re not quite at the same scale. But we think, relative to the scale of our business, it’s a meaningful opportunity.”
In 2023, WBD achieved a rare full-year streaming profit, a feat uncommon among Hollywood media conglomerates. However, in the fourth quarter, the streaming segment experienced a loss of $55 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, contrasting with a loss of $217 million during the same period the previous year.
Perette highlighted the company’s objective to sustain a consistent profit in this area. This goal is believed to be achievable through further globalization efforts, considering that 80 percent of the company’s revenue still originates from the U.S. Additionally, expanding the advertising tier, which was initially launched in the U.S., into Europe and Latin America, is expected to contribute to this objective.
Furthermore, he highlighted an upcoming content slate that promises improvement over the next 18 to 24 months. This lineup features the second season of House of the Dragon set for June, followed by the second season of The Last of Us next year, as well as the second season of Euphoria and the third season of The White Lotus.
“Unfortunately, we launched Max in the U.S. and in the eight months following, for a variety of reasons — some that we knew about, some related to the strike — we went into probably the lightest content slate we’ve ever had,” he said.
Although Netflix pioneered the implementation of a password crackdown, leading to a surge of 13 million new subscribers in the most recent quarter, Disney has also announced its intention to enforce a password-sharing policy.
Disney has recently revised its subscriber agreement for Disney+ and Hulu, prohibiting account sharing for new subscribers effective January 25, and for existing subscribers beginning March 14. Additionally, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston announced last month that starting this summer, Disney+ account holders will supposedly be “presented with new capabilities” allowing shared account users to initiate their own subscriptions.