HBO Max is setting a trap for password sharers
Warner Bros. Discovery is focused on password sharing as its streamer's domestic growth slows.
WBD's streaming head said they're identifying who's a "legitimate user" so they're "putting the net in the right place."
Warner Bros. Discovery, the media company behind HBO Max and its many rebrands, just warned its streaming subscribers that its password-sharing crackdown is about to get serious.
Compared to Netflix and Disney, WBD has been lenient on its streaming password stealers. The HBO Max parent had been gently nudging its password sharers to add another account for $8 a month or get their own subscription, but it was more of a suggestion than a mandate.
That was "the first inning" of its account-sharing clampdown, WBD streaming head JB Perrette said on its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday. But the next inning is fast approaching.
Starting in September, HBO Max moochers will "actually start to see some messaging" telling them to pay up or else, Perrette said. Put simply, the days of being Mr. Nice Guy are over.
WBD has spent much of the last several months testing to figure out who's a "legitimate user" of the streaming service, Perrette said. HBO Max's testing happened so that when they decide to "turn on the more aggressive languaging around what needs to happen, we're actually putting the net in the right place, so to speak," Perrette said.
Translation: HBO Max is springing a trap for password moochers.
WBD had 125.7 million streaming subscribers as of the second quarter, up 3.4 million from early 2025. However, most of that growth came from overseas, where HBO Max is still rolling out in new countries. In the US, the HBO-centric streamer only added about 200,000 customers.
But HBO Max will start to reap the benefits of this crackdown in the fourth quarter and in 2026 as their password messaging continues "in a much more aggressive fashion," Perrette said.
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