Max Password-Sharing Crackdown Looms, Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming Chief Says

Max subscribers, take note: Warner Bros Discovery has its eye on password sharers.

JB Perrette, WBD’s CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games, said Tuesday that the service will begin sending little reminders to its subs next week about lending their login info to outsiders. Speaking at the Wells Fargo TMT Summit in Rancho Palos Verde, CA, Perrette said certain Max subs will start getting “some very early, gentle messaging” about password sharing in the next week or so.

“This is an art and a science to try and tighten the filter of who’s in there. We’ll start some early messaging with some people who we think are in the higher tier of usage. We will offer a way to essentially add a member, starting in the first quarter. We will then start gradually as we get the data and start figuring out, with some explicit and implicit signals, how good we are at detecting. And then as we go through ’25, you’re going to see the filters get tighter and tighter.”

The move follows that of rival streamers. Disney+ first mentioned last year that it would look into its customers’ password sharing. It announced the crackdown last spring and revealed details of its plans in September. Hulu has followed in its corporate sibling’s footsteps.

Streaming kingpin Netflix began testing ways to limit password sharing back in 2021 and implemented a “paid sharing” plan last year. The streamer said in June 2023 that it saw a surge in signups amid the crackdown.