HBO Max will soon begin cracking down more aggressively on password sharing, says Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming CEO JB Perette (via The Verge). Perette’s during the company’s earnings call. Perette also said HBO Max users will be encouraged to pay a $7.99 per month fee to add viewers outside of their household.
“In September, you’ll actually start to see the messaging — which right now has been a fairly soft, cancelable messaging — start to get more fixed and such that people have to take action,” said Perette.
Warner Bros. had begun gently discouraging password sharing earlier this year, after it debuted the so-far voluntary $7.99 per month sharing fee.
HBO Max with ads is priced at $9.99 per month, while the Standard plan with no ads is $16.99 per month. A Premium plan with 4K streaming is priced at $20.99 per month.
The $7.99 per month fee provides the extra member on the plan with their own account, password, and profile. Only one additional member can be added to an account. That fee is the same, no matter which plan the original subscriber has.
HBO Max will use account information, IP address, device ID, and user activity to determine if accounts are used by people in more than one household.
HBO Max is not the first streamer to crack down on password sharing, as both Netflix and Disney have had success with similar crackdowns. Netflix has reported strong subscriber growth and additional revenue by shutting off password sharers.
Warner Bros. Discovery in July changed the name of its “Max” streaming service back to “HBO Max” after a two year run for the “Max” moniker. It turns out that removing the well-known “HBO” name was a bad move, who’da thunk?
