Disney plans start seriously cracking down on password sharing for the Disney+ streaming service in September, Disney CEO Bob Iger said in during today’s earnings call (via The Verge).
Iger said that Disney would begin eliminating password sharing “in earnest” next month. Disney has actually been talking about getting rid of password sharing since last September, but the timeline has shifted a few times. Disney started rolling out a ban on password sharing in some countries in June, but it sounds like the company’s efforts will expand to the U.S. and other countries in September 2024.
According to Iger, Disney wants to end password sharing to turn Disney+ into a growth business.
Cracking down on password sharing was successful for Netflix. Netflix stopped allowing multi-household password sharing in 2023, and saw strong subscriber growth in subsequent quarters. In April, Iger said that he admired what Netflix had done, calling the company the “gold standard in streaming.”
“I actually have very, very high regard for what they’ve accomplished,” said Iger. “If we can only accomplish what they’ve accomplished, that would be great.” As for customers that have already been told they can’t share their passwords anymore, Iger said that the company has had “no backlash at all.”
Like Netflix, Disney plans to allow subscribers to pay extra to share their plans with someone outside of their household, but pricing has not yet been announced.
Disney this week also announced plans to raise prices for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ in October. Disney+ with ads will be priced at $9.99 per month, up from $7.99, and Disney+ ad free will be priced at $15.99 per month, up from $13.99.
Disney+ initially launched in 2019, right around the time that Apple TV+ launched. When the service debuted, Disney was charging $6.99 per month.
