Hulu and Disney+ subscribers have until March 14th to stop sharing their login information with anyone outside their household. The Disney-owned streaming service will next adopt the password-policing strategy that helped Netflix gain millions of subscribers.
An email sent to subscribers this week by The Hulu Team and seen by Ars Technica tells customers that Hulu is “adding restrictions on account sharing outside of your household.”
Hulu's subscriber agreement, updated on January 25, states that users cannot share subscriptions outside of a household, and a household is defined as “a person associated with and residing in a principal personal residence. defined as a collection of devices used by individuals.
The updated terms also note that Hulu may review user accounts to ensure they are not being used on a device located outside of the subscriber's residence.
Section 6 of Hulu's subscriber agreement states that Hulu may “restrict, suspend, or terminate” access without notice.
Hulu did not respond to a request for comment about how it “accurately analyzes usage” of accounts. However, Netflix, which began password enforcement in March 2022 and brought it to the U.S. in May 2023, “uses information such as IP address, device ID, and account activity to identify devices that are signed in to your account. “We will determine whether that is part of it.” your Netflix household” and does not collect GPS data from your device.
According to an email sent to Hulu subscribers, this policy will apply immediately to anyone who subscribes to Hulu in the future.
The updated language in Hulu's subscriber agreement is consistent with what's in the Disney+/ESPN+ subscriber agreement, which was also updated on January 25th. Disney+'s password crackdown first began in Canada in November.
A Disney spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that Disney+ subscribers have until March 14 to comply. The representative also said a notification was sent to Disney+ U.S. subscribers yesterday. However, some subscribers may not receive email alerts, as was the case with my family's subscribers.
The representative did not respond to questions about how Disney+ “analyzes” user accounts to identify account sharing.
pursue profit
Disney CEO Bob Iger first hinted at Disney's crackdown on streaming passwords during an earnings conference in August. He emphasized that there is a “substantial” amount of password sharing between Disney-owned streaming services, and said Disney has “the technical ability to monitor a lot of it.” The executive hopes the crackdown on passwords will boost subscriptions and boost profits to Netflix-like status. Disney aims to have its entire streaming service business profitable by the end of 2024.
In November, it was reported that Disney+ had lost $11 billion since its launch in November 2019. The streaming service is looking to increase revenue by raising prices and encouraging users to join subscription tiers with commercials, which is said to result in higher average revenue for the streaming service. Ad-free plans vary from user to user.