Yet another streaming service plans to crack down on password sharing this year

Thanks to the trend started by Netflix, it seems that all major streaming services want to crack down on password sharing. People who share their accounts with individuals outside of their household face restrictions on various streaming services, including warnings and account suspensions. We’ve seen Disney Plus and Hulu also begin cracking down on password sharing, and now Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max (formerly known as HBO Max) streaming service will soon be cracking down on password sharing.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO, Mr. JB Perrette, says the company sees password sharing crackdown as a “growth opportunity,” as reported by TheWrap (via ArsTechnica). The company will undertake this exercise for Max later this year and continue into 2025 with it. Once the crackdown is complete, we presume you will no longer be able to share your Max account with outsiders.

It is not immediately clear if the crackdown will also extend to Discovery Plus that Warner Bros. Discovery’s also operates alongside Max.

The report also suggests that Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring more ad formats for its subscription services. Other streaming services have experimented with transactional ads (ads that immediately prompt you to purchase something instead of building brand image), so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Warner Bros. Discovery also adopted these for Max.

The report mentions that streaming services make more money per user through ad-supported subscriptions than from entirely ad-free subscriptions.

With the imminent password-sharing crackdown and newer ad formats, would you like to stay subscribed to Max? Let us know in the comments below!