Max is getting ready for its own password-sharing crackdown

Max will kick off its password-sharing crackdown over the next few months with “very soft messaging” surrounding the change. During Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q3 earnings call on Thursday, chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said this initial rollout would be followed by more progress in 2025 and 2026.

Wiedenfels called password sharing “a form of price rises,” as the company is “asking members who have not signed up, or multi-household members to pay a little bit more.” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Max’s interest in password sharing, but now we have more details about when — and how — it will all begin.

In March, JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of global streaming and games, said Max would start its crackdown “later this year and into ‘25.” So far, Max’s rollout sounds similar to how Disney Plus began its crackdown, as it started sending emails to customers about paid sharing months before it rolled out its “extra member” option. Netflix also started asking that members pay to share their passwords last year.

Wiedenfels didn’t rule out the possibility of a Max price increase, either. He said that the “premium nature” of the service leaves “a fair amount of room to continue to push a price we’ve been judicious about.” Max last raised prices across its ad-free plans in June.

Max added 7.2 million subscribers this quarter, bringing its total to 110.5 million globally, During the earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company is looking to bring “more consistency” to its films and games business following the “disappointing results” of Joker: Folie à Deux.