Disney+ may be next to crack down on password sharing

Is Disney+ next to crack down on password sharing?

Following Netflix’s announcement that it wants to monetize the long-tolerated practice of people sharing their passwords, it looks like Disney+ may be getting ready to do the same.

Disney recently sent out a questionnaire to subscribers in Spain, and ask them why they share their Disney+ passwords with people outside their own household. The survey was first posted on Twitter, and then written up by Spanish tech news site Genbeta. A Disney spokesperson declined to comment.

• The research suggests a number of possible reasons for password sharing, including that people accessing the shared account don’t use Disney+ enough to pay for their own subscription, and the perhaps all-too-obvious answer: “They don’t want to pay.”
• The long list of possible answers suggests that Disney is aware that there could be a variety of reasons, including altruism (“They can’t pay for the service and I want to help them”), mutual sharing (“I change usernames and passwords to get access to other services”) and water cooler envy (“I want them to have access to the content so I can talk about it afterwards”).
• Interestingly, the survey also includes a few less desirable responses, including “I don’t care that they have access to my information,” which could be seen as a way to make people aware of potential privacy issues.
• Another answer suggests that some password sharers may have been tricked into giving out their credentials by a third-party site.

Disney has not prioritized password sharing in the past. Executives told reporters when Disney+ launched that they trusted consumers to do the right thing.

• Password sharing hasn’t come up much for the company since, in part because Disney+ is still growing rapidly: The streaming service added 35 million new paying members in 2021.
• Disney is not alone in its wait-and-see approach. Nor has the topic been at the forefront of HBO Max, which together with its old cable sibling HBO added almost 14 million subscribers in 2021.
• AT&T CEO John Stankey recently said the service didn’t need to crack down on sharing because it already monitored how many people shared each account. We’ll have to wait and see if things change now that HBO Max is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.
• Password sharing is a real problem for many of these services: A recent Kagan Consumer Insights survey had 11% of people who watch Netflix admit they do so on a shared account.
• The real number may be higher than these self-reported confessions: Netflix recently estimated that 100 million households engage in password sharing.

How the industry reacts to this can be decisive. Simply blocking streams from non-home IP addresses can cause a massive backlash, potentially increasing churn.

• Netflix wants to try a less punitive approach. Instead of targeting the freeloaders, the company will reach out to people who share their paid accounts, asking them to pay a little more to keep friends and distant relatives connected — think family plan, but for streaming across multiple households.
• This might actually work: A third of all streaming subscribers would be willing to pay a little more to share their passwords with others, according to a recent Morning Consult survey.
• Disney’s research suggests that the company may be thinking along the same lines about the problem. If your motivation for sharing your streaming password is your desire to help others, or even just geek out with them about the same shows, you might be willing to pay a few more dollars a month to do so.

— Janko Roettgers

NewFronts by the numbers

This week marked the beginning of NewFronts and Upfronts season, when TV networks and their new media counterparts pitch their respective channels and shows to advertisers. It’s one of those rare times you get to see celebrities and ad tech geeks sharing the same stage, and it’s also a good time to take stock of an industry in flux. Here are some of the data points, both shared on and on the sidelines of the NewFronts, that stood out this week.

• Advertisers are expected to spend 49.2 billion on digital video, according to a new IAB report. $21.2 billion of this is predicted to go to connected TV advertising.
• Samsung’s free TV+ streaming service is growing like crazy. The number of TV+ viewers almost doubled year-on-year, and viewers watched three times as much content as a year ago. Samsung told us in 2020 that it streamed “billions of minutes” via TV+ each month.
• Roku now has more than 61 million active accounts. The company’s Roku Channel streaming service has become one of the five most used channels on the platform.
• Tubi adds 100 originals to its library this year, shows how investment in originals for free services is growing, albeit far below the kind of money subscription services are spending. The Fox-owned free streaming service just renewed its “Freak Brothers” adaptation, and will also add original content from TMZ.
• Pluto TV now has nearly 68 million monthly active users. Paramount revealed this tidbit as part of its earnings report this week, which also showed notable growth for its paid Paramount+ service (39.6 million subscribers, up from 16.5 million a year ago).
• Consumers bought 8.5 million over-the-air antennas last year. It turns out that streaming isn’t the only part of the TV world that’s booming: Scripps Networks shared some data with Protocol this week that shows growing interest in TV-over-the-air, with 50 million households expected to use antennas by 2025 .

— Janko Roettgers

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