Disney CEO Bob Iger says that Disney+ plans to start a crackdown on password sharing this June.
Per Variety, Iger said on Thursday, April 4, 2023, that the company will be “launching our first real foray into password sharing” this June.
Iger said the initiative will start in “just a few countries in a few markets” but will then “grow significantly with a full rollout in September.” It’s not immediately clear which countries or markets the crackdown on password sharing will start in.
What else do we know about the Disney+ password-sharing crackdown?
According to Variety, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ customers will have to start “prompt password-borrowers to start their own subscriptions.” Variety’s article also states, “Later in 2024, account holders who want allow access to individuals outside their household will be able to add them for an additional fee.”
Iger also discussed Hulu’s recent launch on Disney+, saying, “We need the technological tools to lower churn, create more stickiness. It’s things like recommendation engines, getting to know our customers better. We need to reduce the cost of marketing. We need to reduce the cost of customer acquisition to get the margins up, obviously.”
The subscriber agreements for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ read, “Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household…We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this Agreement. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement.”
Iger originally announced in 2023 that Disney+ would soon start a password-sharing crackdown. He said at the time, “We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family. Later this year, we will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms and our sharing policies. And we will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”
