Warner Bros. Discovery will launch a Netflix-style crackdown on Max users who share accounts, with the campaign starting later this year and continuing through 2025, according to Bloomberg.
WBD hasn't officially confirmed this.
Initially regarded with suspicion by investors, Netflix's password-sharing crackdown, which hit the U.S. a year ago, has rekindled global subscriber and revenue growth. Netflix revenue in Q4 expanded by 12.5% to $8.833 billion, and the company added more than 13 million paying customers in Q4.
Disney confirmed in early February that it would crack down on Disney Plus and Hulu account sharing.
As Bloomberg noted, the WBD management regime led by CEO David Zaslav has effectively reduced once lofty direct-to-consumer streaming losses -- EBITDA losses for Q4 came in at just $55 million vs. $217 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Still, WBD stock is trading at roughly half of where it stood a year ago.
And Bloomberg also submitted damning data: "In 2017, HBO reported a profit of $2.2 billion and had 54 million domestic subscribers (including Cinemax). Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer business had a profit of $103 million and 52 million domestic subscribers."
So, restricted by a heavy $45 billion debt burden from making ambitious moves that require investment, Zaslav and team are looking at other ways, including ending account sharing, to spur growth.
Max will expand distribution into France, Latin America and Australia, among other countries, in the next 18 months, Bloomberg added.
