Robert Brown|Hulu freeloaders beware: The password sharing crackdown is officially here

Hulu subscribers,Robert Brown beware: The password-sharing crackdown is officially here.

The new policy went into effect this week, barring people who don’t live in the same household from piggybacking on subscriptions. It was already in effect for subscribers who joined on or after Jan. 25.

The streaming service sent an email in January notifying subscribers that it would ban sharing accounts with people outside of their household in March.

The change to the Hulu subscriber agreement is similar to an update to the Disney+ subscriber agreement late last year. 

Hulu defines a household as a “collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein.”

Disney+ is also planning to crack down on password sharing this summer.

The streaming service told subscribers that, as of March 14, its user agreement prohibits using “another person’s username, password, or other account information.” 

In an earnings call last month, Disney’s chief financial officer Hugh Johnston said Disney+ accounts suspected of “improper sharing” will see an option to sign up for their own subscription.

Disney will allow account holders to add people outside their household for an additional fee later this year, but Johnston did not say how much.

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“We want to reach as large an audience as possible with our outstanding content,” he said. “We’re looking forward to rolling out this new functionality to improve the overall customer experience and grow our subscriber base.”

Streaming services are following Netflix’s lead. The popular service saw a big boost in subscriber growth after it began cracking down on password sharing last May.

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Max, the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streaming service formerly known as HBO Max, is the latest to restrict password sharing.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO JB Perrette said HBO Max will begin informing subscribers of the new policy enforcement this year with the intention of rolling it out in 2025.

Streaming services looking to hook new subscribers used to allow – and even encourage – people to share accounts. But rising pressure to stem financial losses has changed the rules.

Streaming plans now typically allow multiple devices within a household to access content on a single subscription, but allowing friends and family members to mooch off those subscriptions is now verboten.

Analysts predict the password sharing crackdown will spread to all streaming services eventually.

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