According to sources, Max will start cracking down on password sharing in the coming months, starting with “gentle” reminders. Warner Bros. Discovery’s CFO, Gunnar Wiedenfels, announced this during the company’s Q3 earnings call. He said this approach will expand in 2025 and 2026.
Wiedenfels described password sharing as a “type of price increase,” meaning Max will ask people who aren’t subscribers or who share accounts across households to start paying. Max has hinted at these changes before, but now there’s a clearer timeline.
Earlier this year, JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming head, mentioned that the crackdown would begin “later this year and into ‘25.” This is similar to Disney Plus and Netflix’s strategies, where they notified customers before charging extra for shared accounts.
Wiedenfels also hinted that Max could raise its prices again, saying the “premium” nature of the service allows room for more pricing changes. The last price increase for ad-free Max plans was in June.
Max gained 7.2 million subscribers this quarter, reaching a global total of 110.5 million. CEO David Zaslav added that the company aims to bring “more consistency” to its films and games, especially after the disappointing performance of Joker: Folie à Deux.
