Streaming Services Want You To Stop Sharing Passwords Right Now
I was just reading about how streaming services are hauling in about $120 billion per year from their subscribers, but they're mad as hell about the billions more they lose from account passwords being passed around, and they're not going to take it anymore.
I may be mistaken, but I believe this is exclusive video of a conference call between some streaming service CEOs:
Okay...I'm being informed that I am indeed mistaken. This is from the 1976 film "Network," not a streaming service CEO conference call...but the point remains the same.
Your sharing of your streaming service password with friends and family is costing the streaming providers a bunch of money, and while they were cool with it for awhile, they're not going to keep ignoring what subscribers are doing. And, they're working on ways to make password sharing obsolete.
The video companies have long offered legitimate ways for multiple people to use a service, by creating profiles or by offering tiers of service with different levels of screen sharing allowed. Stricter password sharing rules might spur more people to bite the bullet and pay full price for their own subscription. But a too-tough clampdown could also alienate users and drive them away.
In doing some anecdotal research (asking people around our building) on this topic, I was hard-pressed to find someone around here who doesn't password share. One person I spoke with looks at their streaming service subscriptions as bargaining chips with other friends and family members.
He told me that he recently had a discussion with a co-worker about password sharing that began with the two of them comparing what services each subscribed to. In the end, it was "I'll trade you my Netflix and Paramount Plus passwords for your Disney Plus and Hulu passwords."
On the WROK Morning Show, Joe Dredge talked about having an arrangement with his sister who lives in Oklahoma. Some of his passwords for some of hers. After calling a few friends to see if this is how they're doing things, I've come to the realization that it seems more people share these streaming service passwords than those who don't.
AP:
Another study found more than a quarter of all video streaming services are used by multiple households. That includes a family or friend sharing the account they pay for outside of the household, or, less commonly, several households splitting the cost. And 16% of all households have at least one service that is fully paid for by someone else according to the study by Leichtman Research Group.
Enjoy it now. It looks like this type of video-sharing may have an expiration date.