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Disney+ Account Sharing Crackdown Goes Global With Paid Sharing Plan

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Disney+ has announced a new "Paid Sharing" program across multiple countries, including the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe, as its global account sharing crackdown kicks up a gear. The move, which was announced earlier this year by Disney CEO Bob Iger, aims to boost revenue and subscriber growth for the streaming service.

disney-plus-account-sharing-crackdown.jpg

Similar to Netflix's approach, the new system restricts account usage to members of a single household. Disney+ defines a household as "a collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside there."

To accommodate users who wish to share their account with individuals outside their household, Disney+ has introduced an "Extra Member" add-on feature. In the US, this option costs an additional $6.99 per month for Disney+ Basic subscriptions and an extra $9.99 per month for Disney+ Premium subscriptions. UK pricing has been set at £3.99, £4.99, and £4.99 per month for Standard with Ads, Standard, and Premium plans, respectively.

It's worth noting that the Extra Member feature comes with some limitations: Account holders can only add one extra member, who must be 18 or older and reside in the same country, and the added member can only stream to one device at a time.

For those who frequently travel, Disney+ will still allow account holders to access the service when away from home. Users encountering access issues can verify their identity through a one-time passcode sent to the account's associated email address.

Disney+ is also offering the option to transfer eligible profiles to new subscriptions, allowing users to retain their watch history and settings if they choose to create their own account.

disney-plus-paid-sharing.jpg

The move follows Netflix adopting similar restrictions in 2023, which the company said had led to significant subscriber growth. Disney aims to replicate this success, with Iger previously stating that the company needs to turn its streaming business into a growth business. Those comments came after Disney's streaming division experienced a $512 million loss in the third fiscal quarter of 2023.

The full rollout of the password sharing restrictions across the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region is expected to be completed by the end of the month, potentially impacting a large swathe of the company's more than 110 million subscribers worldwide.

Article Link: Disney+ Account Sharing Crackdown Goes Global With Paid Sharing Plan
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/09/26/disney-crackdown-account-sharing-paid-plan/
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I understand the reasoning behind it. Subscriptions shouldn't be abused.

However, considering how expensive Disney+ has become, it's not understandable at all.

I only got a 1 year subscription when it launched in Belgium in 2020 and I paid 70€. Today, 4 years later, that subscription costs 110€. 57% more expensive. That's just ridiculous. They account led for inflation from 2020 to 2085.

Edit: even worse. From October 2024 the price rises to 140€/year. Basically 100% more expensive than 4 years ago. Criminal.
 
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"Household" should mean "Family group", regardless of location if they haven't formally changed their legally relevant permanent address. Most uni students for example are still formally registered at their family home address - cracking down on password sharing to friends etc I get, but this group in particular is being milked by Disney+ et al.
 
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I agree with the family sentiment. If each person using the plan is part of my immediate family it should be covered. Just because my daughter lives near school does not mean she is no longer part of the family. Netflix already takes extra for this fact but Disney will get none because the plan has been canceled.
 
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I still get Disney+ and Apple Music included through my legacy VZW get more (I think that's the name) plan so I don't pay for it.

I do watch some stuff on Hulu, and Marvel stuff when I want a distraction, but I don't think I would be paying as much as it costs for it out of pocket.

I totally understand the crackdown on the "sharing" part of it. I mean, someone can't log into my Apple music and listen to it at the same time I am.

To me, in the end content costs money. Movies and TV shows don't make themselves. The artists that make the product deserve to be paid, just like anyone else who produces a product. So if I believe the cost is reasonable I will pay for the product. If I don't think the cost is reasonable, I won't view or consume it as I see that as theft.

This is how the market is supposed to operate. If Disney thinks they can charge more and people will pay it, then they will and Disney will turn a profit. If not, they will be forced to reduce prices or end the service.

But they have a right to be sure people consuming their product are playing by the rules and paying for it. And it's Disney's house, do they make the rules. You have the right to vote with your dollars and your eyeballs.

I also pay for Paramount+ and Amazon Prime. Between the 3 and OTA there is plenty to watch. We get all the major channels at my house with an antenna, and most of the time we're watching broadcast TV anyway.
 
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I suspect the rise in the price of streaming correlates strongly with the popularity of pirating, and once people get used to getting their content for free, good luck convincing them to come back with "special offers".
 
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Really wish these services would offer a number of simultaneous streams based plans regardless of location. Makes zero sense for me to have to pay for two very low use services (myself and my elderly mother) because we live at different locations compared to say a family of 6 living at the same location but streams 10x as much. This isn't traditional "home" services that require separate infrastructure for each location (like electric, water, gas and even traditional cable). All the infrastructure is on the server end. I'll vote with my pocketbook and start cancelling services when we start getting nagged.
 
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I'm currently a subscriber and share my account with friends. It's not worth me continuing if the amount I pay is just for me as I simply don't watch it enough. The ability to add only one extra subscriber is disappointing. I thought they might go for the 'family' option which allows sharing of up to X people which may have made it viable if you could share with several people. Lots of families have people who live away from home (such as students) or family members who may only watch occasional programmes (like grandparents). Premium is £10.99 in the UK - I may have stayed if sharing with five/six people (like Apple Family) was between £17.99-£19.99.

Interesting that users in the US have to pay $9.99 the extra member on premium and the UK pays £4.99 (which includes tax). We often have to pay more than the US.
 
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Streamers Law:

10 Find 1 or 2 services with content you find of value at the presented price
20 Subscribe and binge
30 Cancel
40 Goto 10

Streaming services are only "expensive" if you try to sub to them all at once. One or two at a time is the answer.

Stop treating streaming like cable and you will win.
 
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All that stuff we liked, it was an introductory offer to get us hooked, a cheap demo, even if it wasn't advertised as such. People selling stuff at a loss to win over competitors, making whoever has more money to waste on "gifts" the winner.
I mean, it may be time to sit down and talk about "the free market".
 
cicalinarrot said:
All that stuff we liked, it was an introductory offer to get us hooked, a cheap demo, even if it wasn't advertised as such. People selling stuff at a loss to win over competitors, making whoever has more money to waste on "gifts" the winner.
I mean, it may be time to sit down and talk about "the free market".
Click to expand...

The EU needs to step in already and let me watch what I want from whatever streaming service!

/s
 
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My wife and kids left 2 years ago so technically 2 households, but wife bought Disney/Hulu bundle so the kids can use that.

Spectrum offers Disney+ with ads for free so after my 1 year I might switch to that.
 
I am in the middle of a Hulu trial (they send me these offers every year) and when I got notice of the price increase for Hulu I canceled my subscription before the pay date.

Best strategy is just buy one month per year and binge. After about a year without subscribing these services tend to send out trial invites.
 
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