Using Shared Accounts on Max (Free) will go down in history soon to follow the strategy of other streaming services. What they’re calling the “transition” will be gradual, starting this quarter “a very subtle message” around the change, as stated by CFO Warner Bros. Discovery Gunnar Wiedenfels presenting the financial results.

I was warned. Last March, Max executives warned that they would be cracking down on free shared accounts that were still in operation. It was only a matter of time and now the dates are set, in 2025 and 2026.

Shared accounts in Max, possible but paying

Wiedenfels spoke to investors in their language and called password sharing a “way to raise prices” or what is the same thing, more income and benefits for the platform. And streaming services aren’t against shared accounts per se, but that they are free and do not generate additional income. “We ask members who have not registered or members with multiple households to pay a little more”they say from Max.

CFO Max also did not rule out a increase in prices of subscription plans. “Given the premium nature of the service, we have considerable scope to continue to push the price, which we have been careful to handle.”. You already know that Max’s prices in Spain start from the “standard” plan of 9.99 per month, but as with other streaming services, the trend is to go up and up.

As for handling shared accounts on Max, it sounds similar to the strategy Disney Plus is following, starting with emailing customers before implementing the “next member” option. And Netflix has done this before, explaining that it is otherwise unsustainable because in its case it has reached 100 million households.

It is true that shared accounts were in those days great subscription claim to services that enabled and in some cases almost encouraged them to do so. The situation has changed and whoever wants to keep it will have to pay more. The streaming industry is taking risks because there is not much budget and we are seeing a response with the resurgence of P2P networks.