NEW YORK (AP) — Many of us were taught to share as kids. Now streaming services ranging from Netflix to Disney+ want us to stop.
That’s the new edict from the giants of streaming media, who hope to discourage the common practice of sharing account passwords without alienating their subscribers, who’ve grown accustomed to the hack.
Netflix attempted a trial crackdown in March by sending pop-up messages to those they think are watching by way of someone else’s account.
The prompt told customers “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”
In order to continue, they needed to verify the account with a E-mail or Text Code, or create a new account with a 30-Day Free Trial, according to The Streamable.
Password sharing is estimated to cost streaming services several billion dollars a year in lost revenue.
That’s a small problem now for an industry that earns about $120 billion annually, but something it needs to address as spending on distinctive new programing skyrockets.