The days of sharing your Disney+ account with friends and family are numbered, as the company gears up to officially crack down on password-sharing.
Five years after launching its streaming platform, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that starting in September, measures will roll out in most countries outside the US to stop password sharing.
This move comes as streaming services look for ways to boost profitability.
“We’ve been diving deep into adding the tech features necessary to turn this into a higher-return, higher-margin business, and we’re making it happen,” Mr. Iger shared during Wednesday’s call.
He added, “Our password-sharing initiative kicked off in June and will ramp up significantly in September.
Interestingly, we haven’t received any backlash from the notifications or the measures we’ve already implemented.”
This is a major stride towards monetizing a sector that’s been struggling. Disney recently reported a profit of $47 million (about $71.75 million AUD) for its streaming services—Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+—in the third fiscal quarter, the numbers likely boosted by their four price hikes that have seen subscription costs double since its debut in 2019.
Password-sharing has already been stamped out across many leading streaming platforms, with Netflix taking the lead last year, resulting in a noticeable surge in subscriptions.
Meanwhile, Paramount+ launched its ad-tier in June, and Disney+ is rumored to also introduce ads sometime this year.
According to 2023 data from Finder’s Consumer Sentiment Tracker, Netflix reigns supreme in Australia as the most popular streaming service, boasting more than double the subscribers of its closest rival, Disney+.
As the streaming landscape evolves, it will be interesting to see how these changes impact viewer habits and preferences!
