Disney Sees Password-Sharing Crackdown as ‘Opportunity to Help Grow Our Business,’ Bob Iger Says

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney is coming for the streaming password-sharing freeloaders. Taking a page from Netflix’s playbook, Disney chief Bob Iger announced that the media conglomerate has put a priority on finding ways to convert password-borrowing users into paying customers. “We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family,” Iger said on Disney’s quarterly earnings call Aug.

9. “Later this year, we will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms on our sharing policies, and we will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.” Currently, in the subscriber agreements for Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, the only mention of password-sharing is that customers may not “share your login credentials with third parties.” Meanwhile, Disney also announced price hikes for the standalone premium tiers of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ in the U.S.

Effective Oct. 1, Disney+ Premium (with no ads) will go up $3, to $13.99/month; Hulu without ads will also increase by $3 to $17.99/month; and ESPN+ will increase by one dollar, to $10.99/month.

Netflix in mid-May rolled out its paid-sharing program in more than 100 countries, aimed at pushing illicit password-borrowers to get their own account or having customers add non-household users as an “extra member.” For the second quarter, Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers — more than double the most bullish analyst forecasts. “We’re seeing that it’s working,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said on the streamer’s earnings interview. “We’re positive in terms of both revenue and subscribers relative to pre-launch in all of our regions.” Iger, responding to an.